Apocalypse Walking
by ChildOfAsmodeus
Summary: They found her in a grave marked for a Jane Doe, near death once more. As an old friend of Carlisle's, what can one immortal girl with a talent for dying provide for the Cullen family and their witnesses as their time to face the Volturi comes closer? More importantly, what can the three kings of the vampire race offer the daughter of the four-horsemen of the apocalypse? KingsxOC
1. Prologue

**WARNINGS: Blood, gore, disturbing descriptions.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC.**

* * *

Prologue

* * *

If they didn't have near-infallible senses, they would've thought they had made a mistake.

In fact, they still sort of believed they'd made a mistake.

"Carlisle, this seems wrong," Esme worried, her well-manicured fingers curling over the edge of his jacket sleeve.

They stopped at the entrance to the graveyard, nearly just as still as the statues and tombstones that stood within the grounds. They'd been traveling for two days, and this was where their trail had finally lead them to. A large plot of graves and family crypts that stretched several acres long, right in the heart of Oregon.

The caretaker of the cemetery hadn't really kept an upkeep on their job. Cracked marble and chipped stones littered the pathways, and there wasn't a single grave marker that looked taken care of. It was like all friends and family of the beloved dead had forgotten them and left them behind.

Carlisle's eyes flitted across the expanse of land, glancing over the trees and engraved stones. He was frowning, but he didn't turn to leave.

"Surely, they must have been mistaken," Esme continued. "Why would she be here?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself," Carlisle commented.

Both vampires froze as their enhanced hearing picked up on a noise, deeper into the cemetery. It'd distinctly sounded of someone hitting wood, but very muffled and quieted.

The two shared a look of disbelief, before venturing in further to find the spot where the noise had come from. A few fast-paced steps into the sea of tombstones and mausoleums lead them deeper into the woods, and standing before a singled out grave that read 'Jane Doe'.

There was no more noise coming from the grave. In fact, there was hardly any noise at all. It seemed as though the forest around them had fallen completely silent. No more birds sang, and all animals in the area had suddenly scurried off and left silence in their wake. It was completely quiet. Eerily quiet.

Carlisle seemed to hesitate for a moment, golden eyes glancing from his mate's slightly perturbed face and then back down to the grave before them.

"...Lilith?" He called hesitantly, feeling a little foolish as he did so.

To both their surprise, he received a reply.

There was distinct noise of shuffling down below, muffled by several feet of wet dirt and what was likely a solid wood coffin door. Then, a voice spoke.

_"Carlisle?"_

Esme stared at her mate with wide eyes, her pink lips popped open in a look of pure shock. There was someone down in the grave, alive!

Carlisle's face, however, washed over with relief, and he fell down to one knee over the grave. He wasn't even phased as the wet grass bled onto the knee of his jeans. "What on earth are you doing down there? In a coffin, of all places?"

They were met with a long stretch of silence, before they both heard a long sigh of defeat. _"Can you.. please, just dig me out? I've died three times in this grave, and I'm not looking forward to doing it again."_

Esme looked at Carlisle, confused. He simply gave her a small smile and a shrug. "Of course, just give us a moment. We'll start digging."

Of course, they hadn't brought anything to dig with, so they started with their hands. Even Esme, with pristine clothes and painted nails, eagerly began helping her mate scoop out handful after handful of dirt, eager to get the poor dear down below out of her grave. Esme knew that Carlisle wouldn't put her in any kind of danger, so instead of fearing what was below she was more worried.

They worked at vampire speed, keeping their ears open just in case someone happened to wander close, though they doubted it. The closest human home was the caretaker of the cemetery, and that was several miles out.

Both were covered in dirt by the time they saw the plain surface of the coffin, with soil beneath their nails and relief on their faces.

_"You know, I honestly don't know how I get myself into these situations, I swear."_

Carlisle chuckled, scooping some dirt away from the coffin's latch. "That sounds vaguely familiar."

_"Hey!"_ the voice protested weakly. _"I take mild offense to that."_

Finally, they had enough of the soil cleared away that the coffin could be opened. It took breaking the latch to do so, as the thing had become stuck after having all the weight of six feet of dirt placed upon it. Carlisle curled his hand around the coffin lid, and gave it a sharp yank. The wood cracked and groaned, but he had successfully pried the whole lid off of its hinges and freed the person within.

Esme could hardly contain the gasp that escaped her, eyes clouding with tears as she took in the sight before her. Horror was the only way to describe how she felt, and she felt her heart strings tugging painfully in her chest.

The young girl within was obviously once beautiful. But, now, after who knew how long beneath the earth, she was a shadow of a person. Her porcelain skin had shriveled taught against her bones, almost like her insides had been vacuum sealed. She was as thin as her bones, with no substance to her at all.

Brittle white hair rested around her like a halo of light, falling down to her waist in brittle waves. It'd lost all volume and shine, and looked just as dead as the rest of her. It was easy to see that a lot of it was falling out, revealing splotches of bald skin on her head.

In the sunken in depths of her eye sockets were eerily silver eyes, looking up at them curiously. The life in them was such a contradiction to the rest of her body, that it left the hair on their necks raising and tingling.

What was once a beautiful dress hung loosely off of her emaciated frame. It was white satin, tailor as a beautiful evening gown. Across the chest, however, was a horrible splatter of dried blood and a large slash across the top of the dress. The blood had soaked the entire top of the dress, starting from where her heart would've lay when it'd actually fit and spreading out from there.

In all definitions of the word, she should've been long dead.

"I know, I'm the sight of pure beauty, right?" the girl muttered sarcastically, and Esme shivered as she saw the girl's jawbone visibly moving beneath the skin. "I'm afraid I have no muscle mass at the moment, I can barely move my jaw. Either one of you has to carry me, or we can wait a couple hours until I die again."

"Of course I'll carry you, Lilith," Carlisle murmured, the golden hue in his eyes watered with sadness. "I'm afraid to break your bones, though. How should we go about this?"

A dry cough escaped her thin lips. "I'm afraid that's unavoidable at this point. Please, just get me out of this awful hole. And then introduce me to your lovely mate, because I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting before."

Carlisle reached down into the coffin, trying to be as gentle as he could. The texture of her skin was like paper that'd been crumbled repeatedly until it was an odd mixture of softness with roughness. He'd handled bones plenty of times in his line of work and because of what he was, but he knew that she was likely so brittle it didn't matter how gentle he was.

She was lighter then paper, and the cracking noises that followed made both vampires flinch.

"God, Lilith," Carlisle muttered sorrowfully, voice thick as he gently cradled the small girl to his chest so that none of her bones could no longer break in on themselves. "How did this happen to you?"

"My brother found me," she said simply, allowing her skull to sag against his neck. "I need to eat, or I'll die again, Carlisle. I should still have a bank account open-"

"Nonsense," he shushed. "We will buy whatever you need."

Esme nodded enthusiastically. "Of course, please. Dear, let us help you."

Those silvery eyes drifted to Esme, and the girls taut lips pulled into a mockery of what would've once been a beautiful smile. "Oh, you're lovely. I always knew Carlisle would've ended up with an extremely beautiful mate."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

**Lilith**

* * *

_The pungent smell of ash filled my senses and clouded my lungs. Each breath I drew clouded the pit of my chest and watered my eyes. It took just a moment of consciousness for me to feel the flames licking at my legs and feet, swallowing the pyre and growing larger with each passing second. All I could see where the red and orange hues growing closer and closer to my skin, which had already begun to burn._

_"Witch! Witch!" the crowd was chanting loudly, several people waving their torches high into the air._

_The first deep breath I took released a haunting scream that shook my chest. I was burning, and the pain was so intense I nearly went under once more. My screams and cries were drowning the sounds of the priest that stood near the pedestal placed before the pyre, covering the scripture that dutifully fell from his pale lips._

_I thrashed violently, desperate to escape the heat, but all I achieved was the sharp burn of the ropes binding me rubbing harshly against my skin. __This was the first and only time I'd ever been burned alive... and the process of recovery would be the most painful that I would ever come to know. Skin slowly coming to life, layer by layer, and ash and burnt pieces of flesh flaking off of my body._

_I pulled myself from the ash pile, my hand slipping and accidentally crushing the brittle hand bone of another poor soul that'd been burned before me._

_ Thankfully, no one was around to witness the "witch" coming back to life and pulling herself from their pile of burned women._

_"I am sorry."_

_I wheezed in a large gulp of fresh air, feeling my lungs slowly coming to life in my chest. I looked up, and spotted a dark shadow lingering above me. It flickered in and out of existence, but a single pair of silver eyes looked down upon me in sadness._

_"Papa..." I coughed, burnt hand reaching for the edges of the shadow._

_He sidestepped my grasp, eyes downcast. "I cannot allow your touch, my flower. You know this."_

* * *

"Lilith... wake-"

_Fire licking against my skin._

"Lil-"

_The acrid smell of burning flesh, and the screams ripping from me-_

"Lily!"

I jolted, straining against my seat belt for a moment as I startled awake. Breathing deeply, I saw Carlisle had pulled off to the side of the road, and both he and his mate were turned in their seat, watching me matching golden eyes.

"You were dreaming," Carlisle muttered.

Subconsciously, I ran my fingertips under the sleeves of the coat Esme'd given me back at the cemetary, and breathed a soft breath as I felt the skin was intact.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep," I apologized, and ran my hands through my hair. The brittle pieces that'd once lain over my scalp like thin pieces of straw, had fallen out once my body had began to restore and repair itself. My new, healthy hair had already grown down to my shoulders in silvery-white waves.

"Don't apologize, dear, it's no doubt that you're still exhausted," Esme said softly, reaching a careful hand out and caressing my knee reassuringly. "It's just..."

"I was screaming?" I guessing softly, and the two vampires in the front nodded.

I inhaled deeply, thankful the air was clean and crisp, nothing like the lingering smoke and ash I could usually still smell after that particular nightmare. It'd been one of the worst deaths I'd ever died, and even though it was a long time ago, it stuck out in my mind terribly.

"Are you hungry again?" Carlisle asked, carefully pulling back onto the road and driving once more.

I opened my mouth, and promptly closed it with an audible click of teeth as my stomach gave a horribly loud growl. Despite having just eaten loads of food hours before, enough food to feed a small village, I was already starving again. But the previous meals had filled out my body, putting some flesh between my skin and bones and rebuilding the muscles that'd weakened over time.

He chuckled at the sound. "I thought so. I'll swing in at the next stop, okay?"

"Could you also begin explaining to me why you were looking for me? I'm feeling better, and I'm up for a story," I told him, quickly zipping up Esme's jacket around my shoulders, so that the person in the drive-thru wouldn't be able to look in and spot the blood spatter that stained the front of my dress.

* * *

"So... Edward got his human mate... pregnant?" I continued, brows drawing together in confusion as I tried to piece it all together in my head. "I thought vampire's were sterile?"

Carlisle glanced at me from his position in the driver's seat. "We all thought so. But, as it seems, male vampires are able to conceive with human females. Now, however, the Volturi believe we have made an immortal child."

I sat back in the seat, lifting my milkshake back to my lips as I mulled over my thoughts. While stumbling upon the strange and supernatural wasn't exactly knew to me, I wasn't one-hundred percent up to date with the vampire hierarchy and mannerisms. I was thankful for Carlisle and his mate finding me, because if they hadn't I would've ended up dying in that grave repeatedly until the end of time. There was a part of me that really, really didn't want to say yes, but they were truthful enough to let me in on what they were truely asking me to become part of.

They needed help. Witnesses, supposedly.

"It's a lot to take in," Carlisle admitted. "Everything happened very quickly. They no sooner left for the honeymoon and then Bella was pregnant. We... we were very afraid she would die trying to deliver the baby. We had no idea if Renesmee would actually come out okay. And it was only a bit after that that we discovered her existence had been leaked to the Volturi."

I rested my temple against the window, all cogwheels in my brain turning at max power as I tried to digest it all.

"But, I can understand if you want to sit this out," Carlisle said quickly, brows drawing in concern. "We'd be more than happy to get you a car or flight to anywhere you need and enough to get you on your feet."

Esme nodded empathetically, the curls and waves in her hair shimmering in the light as they bounced across her shoulders.

I smiled softly, unable to help myself from chuckling at my worried friend. "There is no way I can walk away from you now, Carlisle. You saved me, and your family needs help. Of course I'm coming along."

His eyes caught mine in the rear view mirror and I gave him what I hopped to be a reassuring smile. He nodded once, and cast his golden gaze back to the road.

His beautiful mate turned around in her seat, golden eyes taking in the sheer amount of wrappers and empty food containers that littered the seat next to me.

"I don't feel full," I explained to her, seeing the curiosity in her eyes. "While I can feel hunger after not eating for a certain frame of time, I don't ever feel full. My diet is mostly very fatty and sugary, and it fuels my energy. I merely eat until I feel it is... enough, I suppose. It also helps restore my body when I'm weak."

She nodded, face losing some of the worry that she'd been wearing since we'd left the cemetery. "I'd been worried when Carlisle began sweeping all that sugary food into the cart, but he'd assured me that it was what you needed. I'm glad that you've recovered so quickly."

"I won't be fully recovered until a few days," I sighed. "My body is physically filling out but it will take a while for all of my strength to return to me.

I stared out the window, taking in the beautiful colors of the snow topped trees that we'd begun to pass. It'd been so long since I'd seen the light, seen color. I'd been in that grave for three years, which was hard to believe. But counting the amount of times I'd died and seeing the date in truth on Carlisle's cell phone, I knew it to be true.

I felt a lurch in my chest, and gave a pained gasp as my heart suddenly gave a kick. I'd finally produced enough blood and it was starting to beat again, starting off heavy and foreign in my chest. It was odd to hear it again, after it'd been silent for so long.

Carlisle seemed to relax in the front seat, looking relieved to hear my heart restarting.

"I'll never get used to that, I think," I mused to myself, pressing a hand over my heart in thought.

I wasn't too sure what he was worried about, but I knew he didn't fully understand what I was. Hells, even I didn't know exactly what I was. In his mind, I'm sure I was still more human appearing than most. Hearing my heart start was probably a comfort to him, meaning I was more in the clear.

"I'm happy to act as a witness for you, Carlisle," I said suddenly, interrupting the silence. "I'm indebted to you and your mate for saving me. And if these Volturi will not listen to reason, it would be an honor to fight by your family's side."

Carlisle sighed. "I'm hoping it will not come to that."

There was a beat of cold silence, before the question that'd been tingling on my lips since they'd pulled me from my grave finally came tumbling free.

I smiled as I spoke, feeling deep inside my chest that I already knew the answer. I was unable to stop the bitterness from seeping into my voice. "Carlisle... how did you know where to find my body?"

Carlisle shifted, golden eyes glancing at me through the rear view mirror. "I started off looking for you with Esme up in Canada, where I'd last heard from you. We even found your old cabin, but it was abandoned. On our way back we were visited by crows, they told us where to go. I figured that they had belonged to you."

"Sounds about right," I muttered, stretching back in the seat. My eyes darting out to look at the power lines lining the roadside. Every so often, the dark shape of a crow perched alone the wire passed by us.

Crows were the eyes and ears for those of the underworld. Death dealers and demons used the animals, and even conjured into existence to use them as reliable messengers. The only fault to them, however, was that they had no allegiance or sense of loyalty.

We were being followed, loosely so, but still being followed. I decided to stay silent about it until I was sure that there was a problem, but If I had known what I was getting myself into, I may have reconsidered how I was going about things. I may have even turned tail and ran, away from my friend in his time of need, and hidden myself away.

But, instead, unknowingly, I let myself be lead down the road leading me to hell, and my destiny.

* * *

Within a few hours time, dusk had painted the sky with almost purple hue, and we were driving up the long expanse of the Cullen family home's drive way.

I'd been forewarned that the house was full of vampires, but that no harm would come to me. I believed in Carlisle, but it was amusing to me how much he cared to spare me pain. Even though it would not result in a permanent death, he was very eager to protect me. He'd been the same when we'd first discovered each-other all those years ago.

I could tell he felt guilty that I'd been buried for so long, but it truly wasn't his fault. It was no one's fault, except maybe my own for letting my guard down and getting myself in that situation.

The rows of trees on either side of the car suddenly split wider, revealing the lovely modern home an yard the was nestled amongst the forest. It was obviously a project of love, since I'd now learned the Esme really enjoyed drawing up the design plans for their homes.

By the time we'd parked, a pair of vampires had appeared at the front door, standing like statues at the entrance to the home.

One a vampire I recognized as Edward, Carlisle's first vampire companion and adopted son. He still had his hair in the same messy style he'd kept it in all those years ago before his change, when I first ever saw him. Of course, vampirism had kept his youth and nothing to his features had changed. The woman at his side was new to me. She was a beautiful brunette, with a medium build and a cautious looking face. While nearly imperceptible, I could see that her eyes were a couple shades darker in color than her mate's, depicting that she was still coming out of her newborn stage.

Carlisle and Esme exited the car first, and I stretched slowly, popping my wrists with a smart rotation before Carlisle got to my door and held it open for me. I was feeling incredibly cramped and stiff after being in the coffin for so long, and now that I had the strength to hold myself up I was looking forward to standing and stretching myself out.

"Do you seek to condemn us?!" A voice hissed the second my feet touched the driveway, and a wild looking blond came storming from the house.

She was a vampire I had no recollection of, but seemed to be following the same diet as the Cullens. Though, currently, her eyes were darkening with anger as she took in my appearance. "You said you were leaving to collect another witness! But instead you bring a human into this mess?!"

"Tanya," Edward said sternly, coming forward.

The blond turned to look at him, face furious as strawberry blond curls tumbled across her shoulders. "We already have the odds stacked against us. They will surely believe we've broken the law the second they notice two heartbeats!"

I smirked, and felt a familiar pressure near the center of my chest. I concentrated, pushing and feeling my chest grow tighter.

The loud thudding of my heart suddenly went spastic, erratic and fighting for life, causing all the vampires on the front lawn to look to me in clear confusion. I should've been clutching my chest and gasping in pain, but instead I stood calmly. Only Edward and Carlisle seemed to be rather calm about it, though Carlisle was looking a little distressed by my display.

My heart suddenly stopped once it reached it's highest tempo, stopping dead in my chest.

I rolled my shoulder, popping the sore bones there. "There, no heart beat. Now we don't have a thing to worry about," I chirped, enjoying the look of sickened surprise that crossed the woman's face. I could see a few vampires inside the home, through the expansive windows and glass walls. They were looking down curiously, red eyes piercing through me.

"What are you?" the brunette whispered, dark amber eyes wide with shock.

I stepped closer, ignoring how the angry blond named Tanya took a very cautious step back. "You must be Bella. You're very beautiful, as your name would imply. I'm glad to see Edward found someone who can deal with his moodiness."

Edward shot me a playful glare, but chuckled at the look of his mate, who's face darted between Edward and I incredulously.

"My name is Lilith, but please don't follow Carlisle and Edward's footsteps and call me Lily instead," I introduced with a grin, giving them a curtsy with the frayed ends of my dress clutching in my hands. "As much as I want to get to know you all, I'm extremely dirty if you couldn't tell. And I'm still wearing the dress I was murdered in. So, if I could shower first I'd be incredibly grateful."

"I'll show you to our room," Esme interjected, reaching forward to gently link her arm with my own. "You can use my and Carlisle's bedroom for the time you stay here."

She led me up the lawn and into the home, dodging curious faces as she led me up the stairs and down the hall to the room she shared with Carlisle. It was a nice, modern designed room with a very delicate color scheme. Very homely, and warm feeling.

As we passed the rooms lining the second floor hallway, I saw a young face peaking at me through the crack in the door. I gave her a small smile and a wave, and I saw the hint of a smile touch her cheeks as she shut the door with a click.

"I'll find some clothes for you, dear," Esme promised, opening the door to the master bathroom. "Take as long as you need. I know being in a home of vampires maybe-"

"Please," I reached forward and took her hand in mine. "I'm not afraid of you, Esme. You and your kind are the least of my worries. I don't feel uncomfortable in this home, regardless of the sheer amount of vampires pouring from the woodwork. Trust me."

She smiled warmly, looking relieved. She was gone in a second, the bedroom door closing behind her with a click as she left to give me the illusion of privacy. I knew if I so much as coughed, all the inhabitants of the house would hear it.

I was quick to make my way into the bathroom, and wasn't surprised to find it just as modern and luxurious as the rest of the house. The sheer size of the tub alone was inviting, and I was quick to peel that awful, stinking dress away from my body. I set to work on running a hot bath.

I planned on taking my time, as my first time showering in three whole years. I reeked of blood and death, and while I usually had one of those smells on me at all times, it wasn't usually three years old.

Humming softly, I set to work scrubbing at my skin and cleaning my body head to toe. I cleaned dirt and blood from beneath my long nails and lathed my hair with shampoo and conditioner. The once crystal clear water became darkened in just a few moments of scrubbing, so I drained my first bath out and ran a second one for more clean water.

It felt heavenly just sitting in the warmth, but it turned cold on me much too quickly.

I dried off and then wrapped myself in a fluffy white towel I'd found in the cabinet. When I exited the room, I saw a set of clothes had been spread across the bed for me, a set of jeans and a comfortable looking sweater. I was quick to dress, thankful that I no longer had to wear that awful stained dress.

When I was done, I descended the stairs and found the living room packed with rather serious looking vampires. I'd clearly interrupted some kind of talk, because it got suddenly quiet and several eyes were cast my way. I could see through the window, a couple of large wolves sat at the treeline, eyes staring through the windows straight for me.

I gave an awkward wave, looking to Carlisle with a raised brow.

He cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is Lilith, as she previously stated. She is a friend of mine from back when I first became a vampire. I know this may confuse some of you as she's not one of us, but she is also not human."

I smiled at his description, wanting to laugh a little.

"How do you still walk the Earth with a human body?" a thick, Romanian voice asked, and my eyes locked with the red pair of a light blond haired vampire. "Your body should've expired long ago."

"Trust me, my body has expired before," I told him smartly, raising a brow. "Surely you heard my heartbeat stop out there on the lawn? I've died a thousand deaths. But I always come back. I suppose you could think of me like a cat, except instead of the limit of nine lives, my own are limitless.

"If one of you were to snap at this moment," I continued, sweeping my gaze across the room to take in how many human-drinking vampires stood in the room with me. "You would kill me. I would die here on the floor, and then in about an hours time my body would start fixing itself."

"Lilith is basically immortal," Edward stated shortly, summing it up for anyone with straggling questions. "She has a good chance at helping us because it will show the Volturi that not only vampires and wolves walk this Earth. She is different from us all, even Renesmee."

There was a short murmur of agreement across the room.

"How were you born immortal, girly?" one irish vampire intoned. "If you're immortal, surely there is a reason."

"Ahh," I breathed, smile bordering on the verge of a sarcastic grimace. "This is always my favorite part. I don't know."

A stunned moment of disbelieving silence rang through the room, several incredulous stares boring down into me. In truth, I did know. I didn't know the magic behind it all, but I did know how I had come to walk the earth as immortal. But, fresh from a three year dirt nap and surrounded by many strangers, I knew it best to keep most of that information to myself.

Edward's stare caught the corner of my gaze, and I noticed the subtle nod he sent my way. He must've believed my choice a good one, which I would take his word on. I could assume from what Carlisle told me that a few of these vampires were not technically friends of the Cullens, but opposers of the Volturi. To me, that made a world of difference in where my trust would go.

"I assume some sort of ancient magic lives in within my soul, in my bones and in my flesh," I said simply. "I'm old, in short, but there are probably many of your species older than I am. The earliest memories I have center around 1350. I couldn't place a solid date on it, though. I don't have infallible, photographic memories like you vampires do."

My eyes flitted to the window, taking in the heavy onslaught of snow that'd began to fall outside. It was beginning to collect on the ground just as we spoke, and small flakes plastered themselves against the beautiful windows.

"1350? The time of the Black Death?" one British accented vampire intoned, and as I turned to face him I took note of how he hovered near the stairs by himself, red eyes guarded from pretty much everyone in the room.

I smiled, smothering a chuckle that threatened to rise from my chest. "Yes, actually. I was born in Europe, though I don't remember where. Probably Britain, if I had to take a guess. And after so many years in America I lost my accent somewhere in time."

Before I could speak, a large yawn escaped me. I quickly covered my mouth, and realized just how exhausted I was. Even though I'd been buried for so long, I'd not really gotten true rest. All my moments alive we agonizing and filled with sadness and anxiety. I was ready to lay in a real bed, and forget the feeling of walls closing in on me and the stifling smell of wet dirt.

"Well," I stood slowly, feeling the renewed strength in my limbs as I noticed how much easier it was becoming for me to move. "I've been stuck in a hole in the ground for three years, so one would think I'd had enough sleep, but I'm actually pretty tired.."

Esme jumped to my rescue, her face smiling with the warmth only a natural born mother could produce. "I'll come with you. I can pick out some nice bed clothes for you to wear."

I nodded, feeling the heavy stares on my back as I turned. The lone vampire at the stairs had already turned heal and ascended, likely up to the attic as I hadn't seen him anywhere on the second floor the first few times I'd walked through.

I took two steps, then paused. I looked over my shoulder, to Edward. "How long do we have until they come?"

The molten gold of his eyes darkened slightly, and he looked to his mate before he replied. "We have five days. They'll be here before the end of the week. We know where we'll be meeting them, and we can go over everything with you tomorrow after you've had some rest."

I nodded gently, and turned back to continue my retreat upstairs.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

**Lilith**

* * *

I sat in the kitchen with Esme the next morning, a hot mug of coffee in my hands and a rather large stack of pancakes sitting before me at my seat at the marble-topped island. "You look like you're cooking for an army."

Esme chuckled, flipping the pancake she had cooking in the frying pan. "Yes, I suppose so. The wolves have extremely large appetites, and since they're helping us I thought the least I could do was feed them. But I wanted to get you and Renesmee fed first, or else there wouldn't have been a crumb left for you."

I couldn't say much, myself. I'd stacked four pancakes on my plate, lathered them in a healthy pile of syrup, and even toppled some chopped strawberries and blueberries on top. A meal that would leave any human stuffed, but instead helped me build my strength back up.

"Lilith."

Edward's voice drifted from the doorway, and I spun around on my stool to face the archway into the kitchen. Edward stood with Bella at his side, both of them with one hand resting on an adorable little girl that was positioned just in front of them. I recognized her as the little face I'd seen peaking at me through the door crack the previous night.

She was ever the image of her parents, alarmingly charming and perfect like every vampire. She had Edward's dark copper hair(1), that'd grown down to her waist. And, what I assumed to be Bella's human brown eyes, were wide and doe-eyed with curiosity. The beauty of both human and vampire, mixed and mashed together into the stunning little girl that stood before me.

"Well, hello," I said softly, pushing myself from the stool and slowly approaching, bare feet padding against the polished floor. "I'm Lily."

I stressed the name while shooting Edward a playful glare, which he met with a boyish smirk.

"I'm Renesmee," she introduced, and her voice was everything you'd expect an angel to sound like. Beautiful, like music, and delicate.

Just like all vampires, I noted to myself. All of them tended to have musical, attractive lilts hidden in their voices. Even some of the tougher, more hardened ones. I'd only met a handful of them in my life, but they all seemed to fit a very similar cookie-cutter molding. Beautiful, charming to a fault, with reflexes both strong and fast, and very, very hard to kill.

"It's nice to meet you," I smiled, holding out my hand for her to take.

She glanced at it, and instead reached her own hand up towards my face. Her brown eyes were confidant, but searching my face to see if I understood what she wanted me to do.

"She wants to show you... so you can understand what and who she is," Bella spoke softly, the motherly pride in her voice ringing through.

Ah, yes. Vampire gifts. Not all of them ended up with them, but many did end up with enhanced versions of things there were good at in their human lives. I remembered Carlisle telling me this, and tried to make sure I kept that in mind when I got more introduced to the other inhabitants of the house. Some could appear more vulnerable without "powers", but still have a upper hand at some sort of task or ability.

I lowered onto one knee before the girl, now to her height level. I tried to keep a friendly smile on my face, even though I was a little cautious about the abilities of vampires. I wasn't too sure how it would feel, having someone flash their thoughts or images in my head. Edward's power was minimally invasive feeling, like a little pinprick of pressure in my head. Though, to humans, it was imperceptible.

She smiled, and her small hand cupped my cheek.

Eyelashes fluttering, I closed my eyes as I felt a warmth spread through me, starting where her small hand touched my skin. My mind flickered like an old movie reel, and it almost felt like I was there from the moment of her birth, from her hunts with Jacob, Irina spotting them in the forest, and, for a moment, the brief memory of fear that something bad might happen to her family.

My heart bled for the poor girl. She would be grown before she even knew it, and I wondered if she would stop aging like a vampire, or if she would have a short, accelerated life? It would be hard to tell, as she would be the first of her kind that I'd ever encountered. Though, to be fair, my vampire encounters were pretty limited.

Eyes opening, I raised a hand and clasped her hand within my own to keep it pressed to my cheek. "Amazing. That's all I can say. You have a good gift there... Don't worry for your family, little bird. They'll be just fine, you'll see. I'll make sure that nothing happens to any of you."

Her eyes flickered in mild confusion, giving my human appearance over with the unfiltered disbelief only a child could pull off. I couldn't blame her, because, hell, I didn't know if I could even back that up. I wasn't as powerful as the ones who brought me into this life, and even with a command over aspects of death I had no way of knowing how my powers could affect a whole army of vampires.

But I would be damned if I didn't try, because it seemed so utterly _silly_ to be having to worry about whether we would have to fight for this small child's right to exist. It seemed like a no brainer to me that she wasn't harm to anyone, but I supposed people like the Volturi had to see it with their own eyes before they'd actually realize that,

I grinned, and gave her a conspiratorial wink before I straightened back to my full height. "Do you eat human food, kiddo? Your Grandma's about to feed the wolf circus, so you might want to come grab something."

She looked at her parents, and while Bella looked unsure, Edward gave her a nod. "Go on, Nessie."

_What a nickname_, I mentally giggled, and Edward waved me off as he led Bella away from the kitchen.

She grinned and took my offered hand, hopping up onto the stool next to my own just as Esme was plating the small girls breakfast.

Once we were eating, the small thing was actually quite chatty, but not like a normal child. Instead of talking aloud, she would merely reach out and touch my hand or arm to project her thoughts onto me, which was rather amazing, if not a little invasive if I wasn't prepared for it.

She told me all about Jacob, her best friend that was one of the shapeshifters lurking outside, and about all the things she was learning so quickly, even more quickly than Carlisle and Esme could keep supplying for study material.

"So," her little voice startled me when she did finally speak out loud. "What can you do?"

"Hmmm..." I pretended to think hard, but inside I was panicking a little. Many of my powers were a bit much to show a child, and I still hadn't even thought about which ones I could even show the _adult__s_ around here. "Maybe I can show you later? When everyone's outside training?"

She pouted, but nodded quickly and got back to her pancakes with fervor.

In truth, I didn't have a clue what powers I could or couldn't preform at that moment.

There was a strict, standard set of things I could do naturally, but many of my powers come from my last death, and how I died. When I'd been put to the stake, I'd found out afterwards that I could summon flames to my fingertips and breath fire on a whim. For a long time, I worried about whether I'd sneeze and set my whole house on fire and end up burning all over again, but had made quite the living out of being a fire-twirler for a carnival for a long time.

I'd never starved to death before. What would that enable me to do? What would the grimness of a dark coffin death bestow me with? I was almost a little afraid to find out. My powers weren't something glamorous, they were usually quiet gruesome. Disgusting, frightening even.

I had dismissed myself before Renesmee had finished, because Esme was about to feed the wolves and I wasn't too sure I wanted to meet them just yet. Carlisle must've let Esme in on my little phobia, as she'd given a clear announcement to Renesmee and I that she was about to call in the wolves, her golden eyes resting upon me pointedly.

They sent shivers across my skin, and I knew it was irrational because they weren't the children of the moon that I feared. But they were so similar that it was hard to ignore, and bits of memories I tried hard to suppress continued flashing through my mind as I hastily escaped through to the living room.

We'd passed briefly in the hall, the heat from their obscenely warm bodies pressing down on me and their eyes boring holes into my bowed face. For a moment, I felt the ghost of claw marks against my back, recalling a life I'd lived many years ago.

_They will not hurt me. Carlisle wouldn't let that happen, nor Edward or Esme._

"Hi! I'm Seth!"

I nearly tumbled as a hand was thrust into my point of view, and my eyes found the dark brown pair attached to who seemed to be the youngest shapeshifter.

A boyish grin was spread across his face, and I could tell there was genuine friendliness in his eyes. Something about him eased the gnawing anxiety in the pit of my stomach, even if was only slightly.

"Lily," I introduced, straightening myself up just in time to see the female shapeshifter cast a dark look over her shoulder, straight into my own.

I didn't even have a chance to shake the boy's hand before she began speaking.

"Let's go, Seth," she grumbled, grabbing him by the upper arm. "We're eating and then heading straight back outside."

The boy frowned a little, looking between me and the other girl, before giving me a apologetic shrug and trotting off after the rest of his small pack.

"Do they unsettle you?"

I raised my brows, looking up to see the light-haired Romanian vampire perched against the stair banister, smirking as his red eyes stared down at me from his elevated position.

"They don't," I told him, bristling slightly as I saw the smirk on his face widen into a toothy grin.

He was suddenly before me at the bottom the stairs, matching his pace to my own as I attempted to make my way into the living room. "And... do we unsettle you?" he breathed, red eyes glowing with some sort of sickened glee. He was searching for fear in my face, searching for some sort of notion that would affirm to him that I was inferior.

I folded my arm behind my back gently, bending away from him as he got into my personal space. A terrible, painful heat itched at the skin at the base of my wrist, and I focused on it as I felt myself being backed into a corner. "No... you don't."

He chuckled darkly, his wine colored eyes giving me a lingering once-over that had my stomach twisting in uncomfortable knots, before he turned slowly on his heel. "Pity."

I watched him turn heel and walk away ominously, disappearing out the front door.

Several vampires had appeared in the mere seconds we'd been talking, many inches away and hands poised to grab. But they watched him walk out the front door with thinly veiled disgust. It was very clear to me that none of the other vampires here held much trust for the Romanian's, and I would be sure to keep that in mind if I were ever alone with either of the two.

"Are you okay, Lily?" Edward's voice came from behind me, just to my left.

"M'fine.. he's just trying to scare me," I bit out, focusing back on my burning wrist.

Thankfully, no one was behind me to see as a long, thin piece of bone pierce through my skin and slowly fall into my open palm. The burning had been my ulna and radius bones fusing together into the blade, and it still felt hot to the touch as I gingerly wrapped my fingers around the blade. I carefully tucked it between the back of my waistband and my hip, reminded myself to find something to holster it in later.

_Better to have this on me now opposed to when it's too late to make one._

Edward read my thoughts before I could even attempt to hide them, and he gave me a small nod.

No one seemed to noticed how limp my right arm was for the next hour. I paid good attention into making sure I used my left hand, letting the boneless sleeve of flesh hang limply at my side. Until the arm bone reformed, I wouldn't be able to use my hand or fingers properly.

I spent most of the morning getting familiar with vampires of the home. At least, the more approachable ones. Most, I'd found, were actually very pleasant to talk to and be around. It seemed most shared a general dislike for the Romanian coven, which seemed to be the main coven I could see as a potential threat to me.

I was just getting comfortable speaking with Garrett and Kate when I felt a solid mass forming in the center of my arm, and stifled a cry with my left palm.

"Are you alright?" Kate asked softly, seeing the pained tears spring forth.

Both vampires looked visibly disturbed at the sickening series of cracks that followed, and I let out a long sigh of relief as the new bone grew and properly clicked into place. "Finally... sorry, I hurt my arm earlier. It was just healing itself."

"Jesus Christ," Garrett muttered, eyes glancing at my right arm. "That sounded awful. What'd you do, let it get stepped on by an elephant?"

"No, I needed a new one," I mused silently, looking around the snow covered lawn to see that we were mostly alone. I could see some vampires out on the porch, but their backs were to us.

I reached behind my back and drew the dagger from my waist line, finally getting a good look at it in the light. The two bones had morphed until they were sharp and flat, twisting elegantly into a sturdy handle that fit my grip. There were black lines etched into the surface of the handle, and I ran my thumb across them fondly.

"Is... that a bone?" Kate gasped softly.

I nodded at her, gently running my fingers across the sharp blade. "A little magic... and some arm bones, and viola."

Garrett reached forward, and before I could warn him he pricked his finger against the sharp, pointed tip. He gasped and flinched back, holding his finger. A spider-web like crack had splintered just where he'd touched the blade. "This can cut vampires?!"

"It cuts everything," I explained, watching with curiosity as the splintering skin of his finger tip slowly began healing itself. "Flesh, wood, rock, fabric... You name it, it cuts. It never gets dull, but it can be snapped in half. If it's snapped, it turns back to normal bone."

"You look so calm about this," Kate raised a brow, her golden eyes gliding across the surface of the dagger. "Do you give up your bones often?"

I laughed, genuinely. "No, not really. But call me crazy for feeling like I might need a little protection surrounded by vampires. I may come right back, but I don't really enjoy dying."

"Fair enough," Garrett chuckled, and took the dagger in his hands when I offered it to him.

"Did we hear ya' right? A real dagger that can cut a vampire?" a soft, feminine voice with a lovely southern accent came from behind, and I turned on my heel.

Two vampires had emerged from the close cluster of trees, and judging by how they stood they were clearly mates. The male stood just before her, his long, pale blond hair tied with a band at the nape of his neck. He was a medium build, standard height male, but something in the depths of his bright ruby eyes made shivers roll down my spine. He wasn't just any normal vampire, that much was clear to me. The female that stood just behind him was small, like a fairy, with cropped blond hair and eyes just as bright and experienced as her mates.

"I'm Peter, and this is my mate, Charlotte," the male introduced comfortably, with a strong southern lilt of his own. His eyes connected with my own as he spoke, but he didn't attempt to intimidate me. Instead, he seemed to be analyzing me.

I nodded, taking the dagger back from Garrett and slipping it back into my waist band. "Nice to meet you both. And, yes, it can. I prefer not to do demonstrations, though."

He nodded. "Fair enough. S'hard to know who to trust in a crowd'a strangers."

I couldn't agree more, but despite their intimidating presence, the southern vampires made good company. We all settled around a felled tree, speaking for several hours. The sun had run into dusk, and soon the moon was hanging high in the sky and the stars were sparkling down at us.

The forest surrounding the Cullen home was enchanting, even more so bathed in starlight and moonbeams. It was almost like a fantasy world, coated in fresh snow and then highlighted by the moon.

"Don't you need sleep?" Garrett asked, raising a brow at me.

I shrugged, absently picking wet pieces of bark off the trunk I sat on. "Not really. I only eat and sleep if I need to recover. Esme and Carlisle fed me yesterday, and this morning. And I slept for nearly twelve hours, so I'm pretty good for at least a week. I won't really get tired until about that much time has past."

"It must be nice to sleep," Kate said wistfully, shaking out her pin-straight hair as she turned her golden eyes upward towards the stars.

"Not always," I sighed, a grimace slipping over my features. "Not when all you can dream of is death. My deaths, the deaths I've seen, and the deaths I've caused... It never stops."

"That's what I fear," Charlotte admitted, kicking her boots against the snow as she looked downward. "Dreams. I'm almost glad I can't sleep no more."

A heavy silence hung over us all, and I took in a deep breath. The air was unbelievably crisp and sharp from the cold, and it stung at my throat with each deep inhale.

I tried to imagine a dreamless, sleepless life. In many ways it seemed more like a blessing. I wouldn't be subjected to what I saw beneath my eyelids every sleep. But I also couldn't imagine being wide awake through every inch of mental and physical recovery. Anytime I felt too drained, I slept, despite the weariness of my dreams.

"Will you be joinin' everyone in the training tomorrow?" Peter suddenly asked, startling me slightly.

He'd been pretty silent for the hours we'd all been outside together, instead choosing to listen and tack onto whatever Charlotte would be talking about.

All eyes fell on me, and I felt a little sheepish. "I don't know... I don't want to hurt anybody, really."

Garrett looked like he was about to laugh, but then he looked to his hand, more specifically the finger he'd pricked on my blade. "Hm... Yeah, but it'd help us all prepare for a battle. If it comes to it, it'd be nice to know what we can expect from you so we know how to help, or avoid it."

Peter was nodding along with him, bangs falling away from behind his ears. "This is all a little too disorganized for my tastes. And without the major here, we're down a valuable fighting asset."

"Major?" I questioned.

"Jasper Cullen," Kate answered. "Or Whitlock. Whichever name he and Alice are going by now. They took off, without too much of a notice. It would've been pretty valuable having them both here, considering Jasper used to fight in the southern newborn wars with Peter and Charlotte, and is an empath. Alice, herself, is a psychic."

A rock settled in to the pit of my stomach, and I felt a little sick as I processed this new information.

I let out a long breath of air, watching as it formed and blew away into the icy cold night. "Jesus... you know if the psychic's bailed then we have quite the party on the horizon."

Suddenly, all of this felt a little more real and less relaxing for me. Of course, I had been made fully away of the potential of this "witnessing" turning into a rather awful fight. But at first I'd felt more confident in Carlisle's comforting personality and good speech, especially since he was technically "friends" with one of the kings.

But, hearing the the family psychic may have saw something she didn't like and took off her mate and left her family behind, made me a lot less certain on how this would turn out.

"I'll train with all of you tomorrow," I decided. "If this really may turn into a fight, you're right in that you may need to know what I can do... hell, I really need to figure out what I can do."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Peter scoffed.

* * *

I'd returned to Carlisle and Esme's room after ending my short chat with the group. I had planning to think of before the sun rose and the training began.

I knew that there were certain powers I needed to stray from during training, at least from using on any living targets. Death was a vast concept with many forms of power, and there were things I knew I could do that could leave permanent harm on a vampire. Mine fell under a very standard four columns. War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death.

For those few hours, I sat cross-legged on the floor with my eyes closed. Meditation was one way for me to relax, and pull myself together. I needed to, for the sake of my friend and his family, and for the friends I'd come to make in the past day.

Only when Kate came knocking for me did I realized I'd sat there for hours, and the sun had risen.

"Lily?" she called, rapping her knuckle against the door. "Are you coming down?"

I joined her quickly, pulling on the slightly too large converse that Esme'd gifted me from Rosalie's closet, and soon we were out in the snow. A rather large number of the vampires and the wolves had shown, the wolves sitting closer to the otter reaches of the small clearing everyone had been using for practice. In the middle at the moment, Peter was sparring with a vampire I hadn't yet been introduced to. Guy was the size of mountain, and if I had to guess I would say it was Esme and Carlisle's other son, Emmett.

For a moment, I thought it was a little unfair putting someone as lithe as Peter against such a larger opponent, but then quickly reminded myself that Peter was a vampire raised among a newborn war. And, boy, did he show the skill for it.

Every time Emmett went in for a swing or a grapple, Peter dodged with such precision and ease that it was almost like he was dancing around the big guy. It was like he was able to predict Emmett's moves, and after a moment I concluded he probably could just from his training experience alone.

Peter was suddenly at his neck, grappling around the length of the larger guys shoulders and locking the column of his neck in the crook of his arm. With the motion he easily brought the big guys top half down with him towards the ground, and I sucked in a quick breath. One quick motion and he could snap Emmett's head right off his shoulders and render him useless.

A blond female on the sides coughed slightly, and Peter was off Emmett in a second, hands tucked casually into the pockets of his jeans. "Sorry, Rose, I told him I wasn't about ta' take it easy on 'im."

Emmett rubbed at his neck, but showed no signs of being a sore loser with the grin on his face. "I'm okay, babe."

She tossed a veil of golden waves across her shoulders, golden eyes scanning over his neck with a small glance of appraisal, and then offered Peter what seemed to be a nod of apology.

I decided Rosalie was by far the most beautiful vampire I'd come to see. Bombshell body with a lovely face, and the beloved golden blond hair to boot. She had a face of grace, but there was a mask there that shielded her emotions from everyone around her.

Peter glanced over to me. "You wanna go next, kid?"

"I'm older than you," I protested, gaining a few chuckles from the vampire's around.

He scratched the back of his head. "Well.. yeah, I s'pose that's true. Just show us what ya can do."

I stepped forward, cracking my knuckles a little. I locked my eyes on Peter, who raised a brow in turn. For a second, all seemed normal. Then, there was a stirring in the air, and several vampires tensed slightly as the felt the change. It'd gone eerily quiet, and even the sound of the wind whistling through the trees had stopped.

Peter frowned slightly, but prepared himself.

There was another moment of silence, before there was a sudden sound of splintering and groaning wood, and a couple vampires moved as a tree suddenly crashed forward into the clearing.

Peter sidestepped it, looking a little more than unimpressed. "That's it? Ya can throw stuff with your mind?"

I shook my head, patiently.

"Uhh... what's wrong with the tree?" Emmett muttered, eyes glancing at the point where the tree had broken off.

A thick, dark colored rot coated the splintered edges, and it was consuming it's way up the tree at a rapid rate. It was decomposing, and leaking black ooze onto the snowy ground below.

"I can impose rot on just about anything, your body including. it takes a literal second for the main part to form, and then only moments before it begins to eat away at whatever I've implanted it into. I touched that trunk earlier before we started," I told him, taking the black ooze that was still chewing its way through the tree as I spoke. "I could've easily planted that on a leg, or arm, or even your neck. I don't know if it'll kill a vampire, but it'll definitely leave less pieces to put back together. It will eat anything. Only set back is that I have to touch something to start the spread, but once it's planted I can influence the speed of the growth and where it travels."

Peter nodded, standing up from where he'd been crouched to look at the tree rot.

He opened his mouth, and so did I. Then, I closed my mouth with an audible click and he mimicked it perfectly. His eyes shimmered with confusion, body posture stiff. But he'd taken the same pose at me, standing calmly with his hands on his hips and head tilted exactly like mine had.

"Ever heard of voodoo?" we asked each other at the same time, and understanding crossed his eyes. "I do, you do."

I lifted my left hand, and so did he. I reached into my pocket, and he made the same motion but obviously didn't have the same pocket's as I did and merely frisked his thigh, then made the same grabbing motion that I had made in my own pocket.

Withdrawing the dagger of bone, I gave it a wave, watching with a little amusement as he wave around his empty hand.

"If I decided to cut myself at this moment, you would also get the same injury," we explained in unison. "And, through this, I can also mimic you perfectly if I choose to reverse the controller of the voodoo. Strike me."

Suddenly, I went stiff, and Peter more lax. He gave a wave at Charlotte, who'd taken a worried step forward, and they both stared as I made the same motion.  
He took one step forward, and so did I.

"This is some creepy shit," we said, this time my voice following his own.

"I wouldn't hit her very hard, Peter," Edward's voice echoed from the sidelines, and several heads turned towards him. "Any damage you do on her you'll do to yourself."

The southern vampire reached his hand towards me, watching curiously as my arm and hand moved in time with his own. He curled a finger, and then flicked me in the forehead.

It was soft, coming from a vampire. But it was enough to make my head snap upwards, and we both cursed at Peter's expense as he felt his own finger-flick, at the same intensity it'd felt on me. It would've been enough to cause a splinter on a normal human's skull, and I had to be thankful that I could strengthen my bones.

I withdrew my power, and rubbed at my forehead. "I can only trap one person in voodoo state at once, and while it's nearly instant, their mental fortitude can stop me if they're prepared for my invasion. Someone like Edward would have a very good chance at blocking me completely. However, it also doesn't stop at mimicry, I can impose simple commands, too. I didn't want to do that to you, though, it's very invasive. More-so than just losing the command of your body."

Peter nodded. "Is this all, or-?"

I shook my head. "I have one last trick, but it's my last resort for this battle. I don't know how it'll affect your vampire bodies, so I don't want to test it on any of you and potentially leave permanent damages."

I wasn't lying, as my last power was centered around mass illness, and I truly had no idea if it could actually affect vampires. I'd decided against testing out any potential abilities of my death. Starvation mixed with vampire targets sounded much too dangerous for testing. The only thing I could rationally think of it doing would be imposing instant starvation/emaciation upon someone, but since vampire's body stature wasn't linked to their diets, I could only imagine that it would create instant thirst.

As I watched other vampires spar and train, trying to make mental notes of which ones had extra powers and what they did, I noticed something small and dark flutter at the corner of my vision.

Glancing up, I saw a crow sitting in the top branches of the tree tops, head swiveling curiously as it observed our group below.

I tried to hide the frown that tugged at my lips, and I focused on the branch the bird was perched upon. I refocused the rot that was festering on the now dead tree, and watched was the ooze subtly traveled from the stump of the first tree, and climbed up the partner next to it that the bird was perched in. I watched with satisfaction as the branch rotted off the tree, and the feathery little spy gave a surprised cry as it's perch was suddenly ripped out from underneath it's claws.

It took to the sky, northward, and I watched it until it was completely out of my sight.

"Lily?"

I shook my head, my eyes snapping to Charlotte. She was giving me a concerned stare, taking a moment to look over her shoulder and up at the trees where I had been watching the bird. My rot had already dissipated by the time she'd turned her head, leaving the tree looking perfectly normal, sans one branch that wouldn't be missed.

"I'm okay," I assured her, and turned on my heel to follow her and a couple other of the vampires back into the house to discuss what we would do the day of the Volturi's arrival.


	4. Chapter 3

Their journey had been long, but they were coming to their destination rather quickly.

Traveling as one unit made it a little more difficult to go unseen, so their forces had split into three contingents. They were to merge again before their arrival close to the Olympic region and then close in on the law breakers and their witnesses.

Marcus kept to himself almost always, after the death of his partner. As they'd touched down in America, however, he'd began to do something he hadn't done in many, many years.

Feel.

There was something akin to anxiety building in the heart of his chest, but it was warm and tugged like it were attempting to lead him. So far, he and his brother's path towards Washington seemed to be going in the direction it wanted to lead him to.

But the closer they came to their target, the more the feeling in his chest began to vibrate and grow warmer.

Inside of his power, his sight of ties both to himself and the ties that other shared, a thick black chord had suddenly emerged from within the depths of his sight. It was thick, and invasive, tangling itself to him, and both of his brothers. It was pulsing and spreading like a disease, attaching thin tendrils to even more people involved in his life. The closer he got, the more it reached for and attempted to bond with, twisting the normally vibrantly colored bonds with its darkness.

The ties he could see in his mind had many colors, but black had always symbolized one thing and one thing alone.

_Death._

He could see that it'd started with the Cullen's. When he focused on it's ties instead of his own, he could see brilliant hues of kinship and growing friendship that were deeply intertwined with the black strands.

Whoever, or whatever, the Cullen's had drawn into their witnesses, was something he had never encountered before.

* * *

_I watched with clouded vision as the rot dribbled down my arm, starting at my fingertips._

_"I don't want this gift," I whispered thickly, watching the rivulets streak down my pale skin, leaving inky black trails in their wake. "I do not want it. It kills anything it touches."_

_"Eventually, so will you."_

_A voice of whispers, soft and light like the wind._

_I glanced over my shoulder, seeing a grey shroud with pitch black eyes gazing upon me. Further, beyond him, lay a village in waste. Since my arrival, since my rot, they'd fallen upon great misfortune. Businesses ruined, livestock dying, and food failing to come to fruition in their fields._

_There was no one left to even draw breath, and soon my other father would come to collect their souls._

_The only living thing left was me, the source of their slow and painful downfall._

_"You will strike fear into all, and leave none behind in your path. Life and death is a forever changing balance," the whispering shroud spoke again. "If is your duty it ensure that our half of the balance is fulfilled. Humans are born to die, my child. If it is their time, they must be taken."_

_I felt like a murderer. I was a murderer. The rot staining my skin might as well have been the blood of all who'd died in that place._

* * *

The days had passed so quickly, and with each one I grew more nervous. For someone like me, who reeked of death both spiritually and physically, I was very afraid to watch my friends, old and new, potentially perish before me.

It was our finally day at the Cullen family home. From here, we would set out into the woods and find our clearing. After a single night, the dawn would bring the sun and our enemies right to our front step.

I was upstairs with Esme, watching as she threw together an outfit for me that would keep me warm up in the forest. While not as easily susceptible to temperatures as normal humans, I could still freeze to death if I stayed in the elements long enough. Though she offered me several thick, insulated coats, I settled for a thick pea-coat to throw over a sweater. If I dressed too thickly, I would be too restrained to move like I might need to.

"There," the Cullen matriarch murmured, stepping away from the bed with a satisfied look on her face. "I have some extra sweaters if you need it, we don't want you freezing up there."

I chuckled. "I mean, I'd come back fairly quickly."

For a moment she looked cross, then caught the joke and gave a soft chuckle. "Yes, well, we'd like to keep you alive and skip the painful parts, dear."

A small smile touched my lips. While I was older than her, Esme had mothered over me the entire time I'd been within her presence, and while she was out of the loop of how my existence worked, she did her best to make sure that I stayed comfortable while I was in their care.

I began tugging on the extra clothes, grateful that Esme'd found some clothing that would fit me more comfortably for the temperature. While they didn't need it, her family's near constant interactions with humans made it so that they had to own dress wear that made it at least look like they were trying to keep themselves warm.

I flexed my hands within the fingerless gloves she'd given me, before pulling the mitten top over my fingers so that they'd be shielded from the cold. I'd need to be able to touch if I needed to use my rot, so it was important that the gloves were easy to move and remove.

"Are we ready?"

I turned, seeing that Esme had already faced the doorway, where her mate lingered. Carlisle was dressed casually, but I took notice that he was also dressed in clothing that wouldn't restrict him too much if he needed to fight.

Carlisle and her shared a look that made my heart clench, and then he glanced to me. "Lilith... you can still leave, if you want to."

I shook my head, feeling pieces of silver hair fall free of the braid Esme had so wonderfully twisted it into. "We both know that was never an option. Your family, by extension, is my own. One day, I'd like to come to know them as well as I know you and Edward. We will see to that day, together."

He smiled, and together the three of us departed for downstairs.

"I'm surprised mom doesn't have you dressed like a marshmallow," Emmett commented as we hit the last stair.

I chuckled. "She tried."

He smirked.

The house was already emptying, and Carlisle turned to me as we were the last to walk through the threshold of his home. Our eyes met, silver on gold, and I gave him a small nod of reassurance. His concern for involving me was touching, and I suppose it was because I still seemed so human to him despite the things he'd witnessed me do.

Without another word, Carlisle scooped me up in his arms, and I locked mine around his neck. Within seconds, the world was a snowy blur around us, as he sprinted to catch up with the rest of the vampire's that gotten a head start on us.

I closed my eyes, rest my head against his chest and attempted to block out the strong noises of the wind whistling around us.

* * *

Soon, I sat around a bonfire, courtesy of Benjamin's own elemental power, with several of the vampires I'd come to call friends within the last couple of days. They were going over conquests, embellishments and all, like there wasn't another potential war edging on our horizon.

Edward's mate had retired to the tent they'd pitched for their little one, and I could hear her whispering reassurances to the child.

"And you?"

I glanced up at the fire, finding many eyes upon me. The question had been thrown at me from the blond haired Romanian that'd accosted me a couple of days ago about my apprehension of the wolves, one whom I'd learned was called Vladimir.

He and his companion had just finished their little story of woe, of how they'd been overthrown as the the leaders of the vampire world. I couldn't find it within myself to pull even the slightly amount of pity for them, and judging by the reactions they'd been garnering from their tales I wasn't the only one.

"What of me?" I said, and took a seat at one of the logs, next to Charlotte and Peter.

"What battles have you faced?" he stressed, firelight dancing within his eyes. "Surely someone so experienced in death has fought many battles. Unless the only thing you are good for is doing the dying yourself?"

While several looks of distaste were sent his way, I spoke before anyone could intervene. "I've never fought in any battles."

He smirked.

"Directly," I finished, and he raised his brow. "But, I've tilted the scales of many. When death is called, we come. It's always so surprising to the world how the winning participants of a war can suddenly fall ill of a sudden plague, or experience a total collapse of economy. Or, when the side that none had faith in, brings the most strength and spirit to the battle."

He regarded me with a look of distaste, like he didn't believe a word I was saying. I was sick of him taunting me, sick of his false sense of superiority.

"But I don't have to explain my existence to you. Least of all you, actually. A vampire ill in the head and lusting for power that he'll never reach. I pity you, because unbeknownst to you, you reek of failed battles and carry old wounds of having your asses handed to you."

He was on his feet and a mere inch from my face in an instant, his lips twisted in a snarl. "I would watch what you say... you may be immortal and you may have friends here-"

"Vladimir-" Carlisle's voice rang out from the tree line, and several vampires were on their feet within seconds, all eyes trained on the Romanian. I specifically saw that Peter and Garrett had both stood from their seats, the former of the two looking seconds away from a calculated strike against the offending vampire.

Carlisle had stopped short, his golden eyes training on my hand.

In those few seconds, I'd swung out my hidden hand that I'd had behind my back and held a dagger to his throat.

My eyes trained on Vladimir's face, waiting for his reaction to my threat. A belly laugh escaped him, his eyes dancing with near giddiness. "You stupid girl, you can't harm m-"

I pressed, and slid the blade against the column of his throat with a pressure akin to that of a feather drifting over his skin. To his sheer surprise, a cracking tear followed the path of the blade. Splinters came forth, cracking like glass as I pressed even harder against his neck.

"I do have ways of hurting you," I whispered. "And it would do you some good to remember that if one of us were to die, only one of us has the power to come back from it."

He was quick to back away from the blade, raising a hand to the cracks in his throat.

I lowered my hand, eyes not leaving his own, as I tucked it back into my belt loop.

Jacob, the only shifter willing to turn human and sit at the fire with us, cleared his throat awkwardly. "Should probably save this tension for tomorrow. You might need it."

Vladimir scoffed, and turned on his heel. He walked into the woods, Stefan at his heels.

"Lilith," Carlisle said softly, as the two Romanians disappeared from view.

I waved a hand. "I know, I know. I was just getting sick of hearing him talk. He's one of the most annoying creatures I've encountered in the last few years of my life."

There was a collective chuckle amongst the group, and I settled back down next to Charlotte on the log. She gave me a little smirk of approval, seemingly happy that I'd stood up for myself against the abrasive Romanian.

My eyes drifted from the roaring fire, and up into the night sky. The stars were twinkling above, and the moon was bright and full.

_What would father think? His own, directly involved in what could become a rather terrible battle. He'd be so proud._

I chuckled dryly to myself.

* * *

He would never admit that something felt wrong, from the moment he'd felt American soil beneath his feet.

As he ran, his personal guard flanking his sides, he tried to focus on the battle that was coming. Athenodora was at the back of his group, though he knew she would've wished to be much closer. The woman smothered more often than not, and he found her presence growing more and more insufferable as the days had gone on.

His chest was pulling and tugging, but it was oddly enough already pulling in the direction that they were going.

Perhaps it was anticipation? For finally shutting the Cullen's down once and for all. He wanted their deaths, for this time they had gone too far in allowing the creation of an immortal child. He was through allowing them passes to the very rules he'd helped put in place, and he was ready to kill them if he needed to.

Cauis felt a scowl rise to his face as he felt his chest nearly constrict, as though the idea of killing them made him uneasy.

No matter, he scoffed to himself. Soon, soon they would be upon the lawbreakers and their little band of sympathizers. Soon, this whole ordeal would be finished and they would be able to return home.

That is what he tried to tell himself, but he couldn't shake that awful gnawing in the center of his chest.

* * *

The morning came with a strange feeling welling within my chest, and a foul taste lingering on my tongue. The feeling almost felt like a harsh tugging, a pull in a direction. I'd never felt such a pulling before, for it felt like it were within my soul.

Shaking my head, trying to clear my muddled thoughts about my strang feeling, I took a moment for myself. As everyone prepared to move once more, I took some time to concentrate on my heart.

Peter raised a brow from where he stood at my side, no doubt listening as my heart began to struggle and pound within my chest. It stopped in my chest within moments, just like I'd forced it to do the first day I'd arrived. "And what's that little trick?"

"I just made it stop, for a little while," I told him. "It's nothing more than a trick, a false death. It cannot hold too long, or I will actually die of heart failure. I've done that a couple times on accident."

He looked amused. "What's the purpose of that?"

I shrugged. "It was only a parlor trick I'd learned to do long ago, think of it like a human who's heart has stopped but is brought back many minutes later. It's like that, only I can hold it for about an hour without hurting myself. But, now it seems it'll be useful to help hide my presence for a bit, so that the Volturi do not believe another human has gotten involved in this mess."

Peter gave me a nod, and he and Charlotte walked with me at a humans pace towards the clearing that'd been scouted out.

They watched, curiously, as I folded back the mitten top of my glove and began to leave lingering touching against some of the trees we passed. I only marked a few within the woods, but once we reached the outer ring of the clearing I made sure to leave the beginning of my rot on several of the trees.

I took my place next to Carlisle and Esme, and, as we'd discussed before we'd left the camp, I pulled my hood up and over my head, attempting to shield most of my face, at least my silver eyes, away from what would be dozens of perceptive eyes of the enemy.

Esme reached down and gave my hand a squeeze, and I glanced over to Edward and Bella.

Renesmee wore a backpack, one which seemed nearly bursting at the seams. If I had any good indication, which I normally did, I assumed they had a plan to get her out of here in case a fight did actually break out.

An idea struck me.

I looked around, eyes glossing over the tree tops, until I spotted a crow, like I'd assumed there would be.

We locked eyes, and I lifted a beckoning hand.

For a moment I wondered if it would reject me, but soon after that thought it pushed off from the branch with grace. It cawed loudly, circling, before coming down to rest upon my offered forearm.

_**What does this one require of us?**_

I narrowed my eyes.

_I know you're following me. I know who you've been reporting to. But I will offer you compensation if you do me this one favor._

It's small head swiveled back and forth, like it was pondering.

**_What would this one have that we would want?_**

I slipped my dagger from my belt with my free hand. I took a strand of hair and gently eased it out of my braid slightly, then cut off a piece about three inches long. As I said before, they had no loyalties. But they were also simple creatures, and it didn't take much to fool them.

_This is what your master wants, isn't it? Information, and a piece of me. Here is your piece._

The crow snatched up the lock of hair within seconds.

**_What does this one require of us?_** it repeated, this time it's voice rang through my head like a chorus of a hundred voices, all speaking at once.

I glanced towards Renesemee, then to the rest of the vampires who were watching the quiet exchange with curious faces.

_I want your protection, for the girl. If she is forced to flee this field, you will keep her safe until the danger has gone._

There was no more exchange, the crow took off with it's prize with a majestic glide of it's wings. And as it disappeared, several more came flying in from the distance. Soon, there were roughly thirty crows dotting the tree tops, all eerily still and silent as they watched us.

"Well that isn't fucking creepy at all," Garrett said out loud, earning a agreeing laugh from Emmett.

I caught Edward's eyes, and no doubt he'd heard the mental exchange between myself and the crow. He gave me a nod of thanks, but then his brows furrowed. The gratitude in his eyes was quickly melted away as all the vampires suddenly picked up on something.

Everyone stood straight, more tense.

Garrett was nearly bouncing on his heels next to Kate, muttering softly. "The red coats are coming, the red coats are coming..."

I couldn't help my mind from drifting as the anticipation within me began to well, and I thought of the Ents in Tolkien's books and movies.

_"We come, we come with roll of drum: ta-runda runda runda rom!_  
_We come, we come with horn and drum: ta-rūna rūna rūna rom!_  
_To Isengard! Though Isengard be ringed and barred with doors of stone;_  
_Though Isengard be strong and hard, as cold as stone and bare as bone,_  
_We go, we go, we go to war, to hew the stone and break the door;_  
_For bole and bough are burning now, the furnace roars - we go to war!_  
_To land of gloom with tramp of doom, with roll of drum, we come, we come;_  
_To Isengard with doom we come!_  
_With doom, we come, with doom, we come"_

My whole body felt cold when I saw the amount of hooded figures emerging from the trees, spilling forth from the breaks in the trees like blood through split flesh. Their footsteps were in near sync, all centered around following the three figures in the center, of whom wore much more intricately designed.

The red coats, were indeed, here.

* * *

As they reconvened, Aro felt himself growing more ill within his stomach.

Marcus and Caius were refusing to allow him touch, though the more concerning was the former of the two. Marcus was normally too devoid of emotion to care whether Aro brushed his skin for a glimpse into his mind, but since they'd started their journey, he'd noticed that there was something very different about Marcus.

He looked aware. Like he actually cared about the situation suddenly, which was an oddity within itself.

He knew they were just beyond the trees. For a moment, he felt like stopped. For a moment, he hesitated.

It felt wrong.

The closer they got, the more crows he'd began to notice lining the trees. Aro had never been a superstitious person, but he knew in many forms of literature and history, crows were meant to symbolize an omen of death.

Death.

It'd been stuck on his mind. Death. And he hadn't the slightest idea why.

* * *

Their formation broke up slightly, and a small group followed the three head figures leading the way just steps ahead of the rest of the line. As they drew in further, the wolves began howling as they made their entrance into the clearing from the woods behind us. The sound of their howls broke shivers down my neck and arms, but I held myself together as I kept my eyes trained on the imposing figures ahead, even as the wolves weaved into our small clusters of groups.

The three main hooded figures stopped mere feet away from the rest of their small, cloaked army, leaving a fast gap between us and them. They let their hoods fall, and I felt the tug in my chest give a painful throb.

They were beautiful. Two leaders with long dark hair, and one with a head of fair platinum blond. I couldn't see their features in well definition from the distance between us, but I could see their beauty even without it.

It felt like I was getting sucked into a black hole, like the world was about to sweep me off my feet and let me fall into the depths of space. I wanted to move, move closer to them for some reason. My feet nearly moved, headed where I did not know, but I kept myself planted firmly at Esme's side, wondering what the hell was coming over me.

"Aro," Carlisle began, and I snapped out of myself. I'd nearly forgotten where I was. I'd not even noticed that he'd walked away from Esme and I, standing before us all and representing our group as a whole. "Let us discuss things as we used to; in a civilized manner."

"Fair words, Carlisle," their center leader spoke, so softly I almost couldn't hear him, and a tremor rolled through me at the silky sound of his voice. "A little out of place, considering the battalion you've assembled against us."

"I can promise you, that was never my intent," Carlisle spoke honestly, but his face was still very guarded as he spoke with the vampire across the way. "No laws have been broken."

"We see the child," the blond leader spat. "Do not treat us as fools."

His tone was so hateful, and when the words registered I straightened out.

My fingers twitched slightly inside my mittens, and within seconds I felt a pool of my rot gathering at my feet. It'd slithered from the nearest tree, hiding beneath the snow until it could pool into the impressions I was making with my feet without being seen.

There was a moment of small argument, before Aro beckoned Edward forward.

I narrowed my eyes, watching as he walked, alone, across the snowy field until he stood before Aro. The man grabbed his hand eagerly, and then there was silence once more. Carlisle had told me of Aro's power, and I knew that he was reading Edward's past thoughts.

In this silence, I commanded some of my rot to burrow underneath the snow, and then it began to form a web around the center field.

It was during this focus, that I didn't notice a pair of red eyes snap over to my form from across the field.

* * *

He'd seen her before, he realized.

Before, she'd been muddied, blurry past thoughts that he'd not paid much attention to when he'd glanced through Edward or Carlisle's minds. It never occured to him that she had been shielded from his sight, he'd always glossed over their memories of her so quickly that he never paid any mind to the fact that he never retained information of her when he'd read their thoughts.

It was like every time he'd seen her before in their minds, she'd been quickly washed away by the time he was through.

But he saw her now, and he knew. Knew why he'd been feeling the way that he had the entire trip closer to the Cullen's territory.

It was _her_.

* * *

Edward suddenly growled, low and deep within his chest, drawing all eyes to him.

Aro regarded him coolly, releasing his hand from between his own, but his eyes continued to flicker past Edward, over his shoulder. I could almost feel them as they fell upon me, like a whole weight had suddenly pressed down upon me.

I tucked my head down, hiding my face from his eyes.

"What is happening?" the blond king demanded, asking the question that many seemed to be wondering on their own.

Aro seemed to blink from his own thoughts, looking back to his brothers and then back to Edward. He recomposed, clasping his hands together. His voice was nearly an imperceptible whisper as he next said, "I'd like to meet her."

They stared at each other, hard, for a long moment.

Edward turned over his shoulder to look to Bella and his daughter, beckoning them forward. To my surprise, his eyes then drifted to me, and he motioned me to come along as well.

_Edward, what are you thinking?_ I demanded silently, thrown off that he was deviating from the origional plan.

Carlisle and Esme also seemed confused, both looking to their son and then to Aro.

"Lilith..." Carlisle spoke softly. "You-"

I shook my head, took in a chilled breath, and walked forward to join Bella and Renesmee in their walk across the snow covered clearing. My feet felt shaky, like I'd already run a marathon, but as I walked I gently moved my fingers, commanding the rot beneath the snow to line our path forward to the Volturi.

Emmett had also broken free from his position next to Rosalie to flank Bella's exposed side, and Jacob separated from the pack to follow close behind us all. To my surprise, I felt another vampire fall into step next to me as we marched, their footsteps easily falling time with my own.

I glanced over, and saw Peter taking position at my open side, his hands resting casually in the pockets of his jeans. He felt my eyes on him and he looked down at me, giving me a single nod of assurance.

The breath I'd been holding came out in a small puff of air.

The closer we drew, the stronger that strange feeling in my chest was becoming, to the point where it almost distracting. I had to force myself to focus, keeping my hooded face low and matching my pace to Bella's as well as I could.

Caius seemed unimpressed that so many of us were traveling over at just the request of "her", and the guards at his sides stared us down as we marched through the snow.

It seemed too short of a walk when we were finally at Edward's side, and he immediately took place next to his family, resting a hand on both Bella and Renesmee once they were within his grasp.

I felt an uncomfortable pinch within my chest, and grit my teeth.

_Fuck fuck fuck, not now!_

I'd lost track of the time it'd taken us to get to clearing, and how long we'd waited for the Volturi's arrival. My heart had been stopped for too long, and if I didn't let it start back up again I'd start dying.

I tried to hold it back. I watched closely as Renesmee greeted Aro, and reached up to grab his face. His eyes looked nearly glazed over at whatever it was she was showing him, but there was a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.

My chest squeezed, and suddenly my vision waved. I was starting to shut down without my heart functioning, and I could barely keep myself standing straight as the vertigo literally sent the world tumbling around me.

I had no choice.

My heart gave a sputter, a pound, and then began to pump within my chest, like it was supposed to.

It was easy for them to hear, no doubt, and suddenly all eyes were on me.

"Your heart, it beats..." Aro whispered, raising up to his full height and withdrawing from Renesmee's touch, his ruby eyes bright with curiosity. He stepped closer. "Please, cara mia, remove your hood."

This seemed to startle several people, his guard and his blond haired brother included.

Well, fantastic. They're distracted from Renesmee, at least.

I reached upwards and hooked my fingers around my hood, drawing it back until it rested against my shoulders. My silvery braid tumbled free across my shoulder, and I felt no need to continue averting my gaze.

"Another human," Cauis spat, fury registering in his voice.

"Lilith isn't human," Edward attempted to intervene, but Aro was already taking the few strides needed to close the distance between us.

Peter stiffed at my side, his hands withdrawing from his pockets quickly.

Aro stopped, and his eyes narrowed at he took in Peter's defensive posture at my side. They drifted back to mine, however, and he no longer seemed hesitant as he extended his bare hand out towards me. "May I?"

I swallowed thickly, but forced myself to give him a small smile.

Pinching the mitten of my left hand, I pulled the appendage free of the glove. The only reason I didn't remove both, was because there was rot staining the tips of my right hand's fingers. If I could, I was going to try and hide that from them as long as I was able.

His cool hand grasped my own, and the second our skin touched we both gasped.

Power, humming and warm, shot between our pressed skin, sending warmth down my sign and leaving my skin feeling flush. I'd never felt such a thing in my entire life, something so wonderful yet so confusing.

He was so close that I could smell him, and I hated it just as much as I loved it. I hated it, because I loved it. Each inhale of gentle cologne drew him in closer to me, and that warm feeling had traveled all the way through my body and down into my toes.

I could tell that he wasn't able to read anything of mine, for his brows furrowed slightly and I felt no probing around inside my mind. Instead, however, he seemed to focus in on the powerful feeling between our clasped hands, his eyes darkened and posture more stiff.

"Brother."

Aro glanced up, a brief flash of annoyance crossing his eyes, before he registered that it was his dark haired brother who was addressing him. "Marcus?"

I looked to him, and blinked when I saw that his eyes were focused on my face. There was a softness in them I'd never seen someone look at me with before.

He moved forward until he stood before me at Aro's side.

Aro refused to withdraw his hand from mine, and instead held his free one out for Marcus to take.

Marcus did so easily, his eyes staring deeply within Aro's own.

The silence that followed was nearly deafening, and I wondered briefly if I should attempt to tug my own hand free. But I was quickly caught up in watching his expression, as his own thoughts leafed and glossed through his brother's. I wondered what he saw, and as his steadily darkening red eyes fluttered back open, I saw a clarity within their depths that hadn't been there before.

The raven haired king drew in a deep breath, his hand slipping away from Marcus's so that he could turn back to face me.

Caius snarled, coming forward until he was also crammed into my personal space. "What are you both keeping from me?"

My hand slipped from Aro's as I took a large step back from the three kings, and his expression wilted slightly.

He opened his mouth, seemingly to answer Caius, but then his eyes flickered to the treeline with noticeable excitement.

"Alice."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

The crow flew, unhindered, through the sky with it's prize clutched tightly within it's beak.

The girl was a fool, he decided. A fool to offer up a piece of herself, so selflessly and without thought. The hair within his beak would surely be the prize his master had wanted him to claim, and all he'd had to do was pledge the safety of one small child for the duration of a single battle.

This was too easy.

When he spotted his master's cottage, he made for a graceful touch down. Just before his talons could tuch down, there was a dark plume of energy expelled from beneath him. It wound up like black smoke, surrounding his feathered form entirely. It swallowed his entirety, and within the comfort of the darkness he transformed.

He emerged from the smoke as a man, a cloak of crow's feather swishing near his black-booted feet as he continued his journey up to the cottage on foot.

Clutched in his gloved hand was the piece of hair the girl had cut and offered to him, and he held it tightly to assure that no hairs would be lost. His mind was swimming as he thought of the praise he would receive, how proud his master would be, and that he was one step closer to reaching his goals.

The foolish girl had made it so simple for him, and his body was nearly shaking with excitement as he reached the stone steps leading up to his master's porch.

The door swung open before he could even make it to the porch, and the dark-clad man instantly fell down into a kneel. "Sir."

The other man looked down upon him with an unreadable expression, his silver eyes devoid of any emotion. "You've returned rather early."

He felt a smile touch his lips, but he didn't raise himself from his kneeling. "Yes, master. She has involved herself in the vampire's troubles, and she required a favor of us. She offered up the piece you required without so much as a blink."

It was hard to keep the excitement from his voice, and he held the lock of hair out to his master.

There was a long, drawn out silence.

He suddenly felt nervous, black eyes staring hard at the snow hovering inches below his bowed head. Why was his master not speaking? Had he lost some of the hair, and it would not be considered enough? Or was he so impressed that words escaped him?

His master's boots crunched in the snow as he suddenly came closer, but he didn't pluck the lock of hair from his hand. He could see the toes of his shoes enter his peripherals, and it was then he began to tilt his head upwards to look his master in the eyes.

"_You** fool****!**_"

He had no time to defend himself, as he heard a sickening crack rattling within his skull and felt pain blossom across the center of his face. He was practically howling with pain as he went reeling into the snow. All he could see was a white, splattered with the blood that had began spilling from both nostrils and from his mouth. His whole face felt like it were on fire, and he knew he had broken his nose along with part of his jaw.

Vision swaying and suddenly overtaken by nauseating pain, he could see the hairs he'd held so proudly blowing away in the wind. "M-master.." he choked, and spat out a thick globule of blood onto the ground.

"Was I not clear enough?" he spat, crouching down and taking a hold him by the roots of his dark hair. "I need something I can contaminate you imbecile. Hair is already dead, and once cut from her body it ceases to hold the properties I need. I need flesh; not nail clippings, not hair, or any other ridiculous notion you may have gotten into that tiny bird brain."

His master threw his head back towards the ground forcefully, and then was pacing back and forth across the snow, snarling silently to himself.

He was unsure if he should pick himself back up, but the pain in his broken nose and bitten tongue were enough to keep him cowered against the ground, in fear of another kick.

"I can see now that you are not as reliable as I thought you were. You don't want your silly little humanity that badly if you cannot even complete this simple task," his master bit out scathingly, and the blood in his mouth stopped him from replying.

Shame flushed through the pit of his stomach, and then a deep, boiling anger quickly took its place.

The girl had known. She'd known he needed a true piece, but yet knew he would not know the difference between what his master needed and the simple, useless lock of her hair. The whole time he'd believed her a fool, but it was he who had been fooled and now his master was doubting him.

"I-I will get it," he vowed, voice thick from his broken nose, before spitting out blood again. "I will not fail you this time, master. I swear it."

He glanced upwards, and a shiver rolled through his body at the cold, hateful stare of his master's silver eyes.

"How long until your comrades realize what you're doing?" he sneered, silver eyes looking down upon him in disdain. "Soon, they will realize they're not receiving payment. That you will abandon them."

He blinked, slowly, watching his master's face come into focus as his vision finally seemed to straighten out. His whole face, however, continued to bleed and throb.

"You will go back out," he concluded, turn his back to the beaten man on the ground. "But you will not go alone... I'd wondered how well you and your kind could complete this task, and I have resorted to a back up. You will accept this aid, and you will get what I need."

His head hung lowly, and he could feel the blood dripping from his lips.

"Yes, master... I will not fail."

* * *

Aro had witnessed many terrible things, and he had also preformed many himself.

But, with Alice Cullen's hand clutched within his own, he witnessed the most horrible thing he could've ever dreamed. If he'd not made the choice to call the silver-haired female up with the half-human child, if he'd stayed on his decision to condemn the Cullen's and agree with his brother for their execution.

* * *

_Alice's golden eyes focused, and she looked back up at him with a shadow of disgust. "It doesn't matter what I show you..."_

_"Even when you see," she spat, forcibly wrenching her hand from his. "You still won't change your decision."_

_She turned away from him, and whispered, "Now..."_

_He zeroed in on Edward's mate, who suddenly sent their child, atop the back of one of the wolves, away from the clearing._

_"Get them," Caius snapped, and one guard raced into the woods._

_There was a cacophony of cawing, as suddenly all the crows in the surrounding trees kicked off from their purches. They circled for a moment until they formed a black swarm, and flew off, seemingly in the same direction the wolf had been leaving the clearing through._

_Aro was so distracted by the birds that he wasn't able to react as she suddenly swung round and kicked him straight in the face, sending him flying backwards. His anger burned, and he was snarling as he landed in a crouch, hands scraping against the ground to stop his momentum._

_He straightened up, a low growl escaping as two of his guard quickly pinned Alice between them, and her mate was suddenly apprehended as well. They'd been taught much about the dangers of Jasper Whitlock, and his guard had been smart to stick close and not let him near. They knew that they needed him out of the way._

_The Cullen's, and their witnesses, shifted forward, including the stranger in the hooded coat._

_He watched as she pulled both gloves from her hands, and realized that one of them was dripping with a strange black ooze._

_"Take her away," he commanded to the guards restraining Alice, nearly unable to draw his eyes away from the simple action the foreign girl had been preforming. Who was this stranger?_

_As the guard pulled Alice closer to their ranks, they heard a loud snarl ripple from across the field._

_"Let her go!" Carlisle's cry came forward with his attack, as he raced, alone, across the field._

_Aro snarled, and watched as two of his guard raced forward to stop the the threat. He stalked forward, preparing himself for what he knew was to come._  
_Carlisle made quick work of them both, sending both guards spiraling away as he prepared to make a lunge forward to free his daughter._

_Aro raced forward, and the two collided in mid air. He felt his instincts kick in, and in one swift movement he'd twisted Carlisle's head from his body, and when he landed he heard the sickening thud of Carlisle's limp body hitting the snow a few feet behind him._

_A triumphant grin touched his lips, and he turned to face the horrified crowd of Carlisle's family and witnesses._

_Carlisle's mate let out a horrified scream, hands drawing to her face as she witnessed her husband's head clutched in Aro's hands._

_He felt staggered for a moment as he heard Caius bring down a lit torch upon Carlisle's immobile body, and frowned as he felt a nearly violent ripple of energy vibrate through his body. It made him feel nauseous. Something about his actions felt wrong, and it was more than just his sadness for having to take action against the many he'd once considering a dear friend. He felt like he'd made a mistake, felt it so violently within the pit of his chest. Something unforgivable.  
_

_The other side charged at the sight of Carlisle's body catching alight, the once quiet air filled with the sounds of their cries and roars of anger, and he lifted his hands, sending forth his guard to fight freely._

_He was shocked, however, as some of them stopped after they'd only ran a few feet, and began screaming and howling in agony. He watched, horrified, as some sort of blackened tendrils snapped up out of the snow and tangled around their ankles, and began searing through their clothes and, shockingly, through their skin. It was d__evoured their bodies, eating through their limbs cleanly and continuing to spread. _

_He could do nothing but watch as this horrible rot ate away at some of his guard, steadily climbing up their bodies until they were completely covered in it._

_His eyes were inexplicably drawn back to the hooded figure, who had not run with the rest of the vampires and wolves. She was walking across the field at a human's pace, but he saw the twitching and sway of her hands, and he realized she was the one commanding the black rot that was attacking his guard from beneath the snow._

_A snarl drew him away, and he witnessed Demetri and Felix battling with Jasper, who was doing quite well battling them both in his attempts to get closer and free his mate._

_Jane's small form caught his eyes, and he realized she was trying to use her power on the empath, but couldn't get through. Her face of concentration broke through to one of annoyance, and she glanced across the field in a swift motion. At once, she realized that Bella was shielding him from her, and Alec seemed to take notice as well._

_Alec threw down the body of the vampire he'd been fighting. He was a blur as he suddenly sprinted forward and collided with Bella, effectively knocking her out of concentration and to the snow._

_As they tumbled around for dominance, Jane smirked, watching as Jasper drew back with a pained groan. His body went completely rigid, and he dropped to his knees as Demetri gave him a smug push to the chest._

_Felix took him by the shoulders, holding him for execution- when something strange happened._

_Demetri lifted his hand, readying his blow, when Felix suddenly went completely rigid. He twitched once, and then threw Jasper to the ground and out of the way of the blow. His body turned mechanically, and then tackled Demetri, catching his fellow guard and friend in went down hissing and growling as Felix began to grapple at him, trying to rip him to pieces as though he were possessed._

_Aro stood, stunned, and his eyes drew back to the walking figure._

_She'd stopped, and her hand was raised towards Demetri and Felix. She was muttering something, but he couldn't distinguish it over the sounds of battle._

_Felix seemed to snap out of his stupor, yelling for Demetri to stop, when they both began to scream. The rot had burrowed through the snow and found them, wrapping and tangling against all of their limbs that'd had contact with the ground. It instantly began eating away at them, pinning their convulsing bodies into the snow._

_Jasper was pulled to his feet by another blond haired vampire, one with his hair tied at the nape of his neck. The two rounded on Jane, just a small blond female vampire came at her from behind and tackled her to the ground before she could attempt to reuse her power on them. It was mere seconds before the three executed her together, kicking her severed head and body straight into a burning pile of another vampire's corpse._

_He watched as his family, thought fighting their hardest, were slowly dying around him. Each time they thought they'd gained an upper hand, each time someone should've died by their hands, that rot suddenly appeared, or they even appeared possessed as they suddenly turned on their own coven members._

_"What is this nonsense?" Caius snarled, his darkened eyes taking in the chaos of their losing battle._

_Marcus let out a shiver of a breath, drawing his brother's gaze to him. "It is her..."_

_They followed his gaze, and Aro was stunned to see that the strange woman had drawn back her hood. Long silver hair tangled into an elegant braid, and eyes the same shade of molten silver darting back and forth across the battle. She was stunning, and seeming to be a force to be reckoned with. Each time she spotted one of her own struggling, her eyes would narrow and she would command the rot. She was causing the indirect downfall of their coven._

_Caius snarled, and ripped the chain keeping his cloak around his shoulders. It fell uselessly to the snow as he darted across the battle field, towards the offending woman._

_"Caius, NO!" Marcus shouted, and ran after him with a fervor Aro'd not seen in him in many years._

_Caius stopped short of a few feet away from the woman, who had visibly jumped at the sight of his form appearing before her so suddenly, her hands faltering. Caius, himself, has stopped very suddenly in his tracks. Aro had believed his hands would've been around the girl's throat the second she was within reach, but he saw the way their eyes had connected. Caius recognized her for what she was._

_A shaken, warm breath left her lips, and the sounds was sweet to Aro's ears even with the distance between them._

_Aro was frozen, watching as Caius's hand raised and reached out for her, slowly, and then Marcus collided with his back, as he hadn't seemed to realize that Caius hadn't been going to attack the girl._

_The two kings tumbled into the snow, and the girl quickly backed away. Her hand raised out towards them, as the two attempted to raise to their feet. The rot bubbled and belched as it slowly pored up from their impressions in the snow, but it stopped very suddenly._

_She was looking at them in horror, one hand pressed to her heart and the other, the one commanding the rot, trembling._

_Aro's heart broke as he realized that she knew. She knew they were hers, because when she'd went in for the kill something had stopped her. She'd realized what that meant, and was torn. They were the ones harming her friends, killing them, but they were meant to be part of her heart._

_As tears welled within her bright eyes, for a moment she seemed to be trying to keep herself together._

_The two kings were swarmed suddenly by vampires, and the girl seemed to stop breathing as she witnessed two pieces of her soul executed in front of her. She crumbled to her knees, and was either too choked to speak or was unwilling._

_Aro felt himself getting pulled into battle by Bella and Edward, but he was so far from his body. His eyes were searching her, watching as she frantically wiped away at the tears staining her cheeks. It was then he truly felt the pull, and he struggled fiercely to try and get to her. She needed comforted, protected, and now his brothers were no longer able to help him. He had to help her._

_Even as he felt his neck cracking, his eyes stayed trained upon her. Watching, wanting, worrying._

_She rose to her feet, and her fists trembled, before she let out a yell of rage and unbridled pain._

_Both of hands raised towards the battle, and her silver eyes were alight with fury and deep pain. His remaining guard suddenly began to sway on their feet, breaking away from battle. He could see that some had began forming boils and were vomited up pure venom, their bodies suddenly turning against them._

_Vampires were not able to get sick. But she'd seemed to conjure something that could infect them, to the point that she could even control who she was infecting._  
_The sudden onslaught of illness was all it took for the remainder of his guard to be finished._

_Just as he began to lose his consciousness, her eyes finally found his. Their depths seemed hollow and he felt cold, even as his head was torn from his body and the deadly __heat of a torch bore down upon his vulnerable body._

* * *

Aro felt himself falling back into the present, and he realized his body still felt cold inside from the haunting images still dancing within his mind. He realized the irreparable damage that could've been done. That he could've been ripped away from her before he'd ever even gotten the chance to ever hold her in his arms.

His eyes, feeling heavy, glanced over Alice's searching face, and back to the girl. She was standing a few feet away, her silver eyes watching him almost curiously.

She did not know now, he realized. At this moment, she didn't realize that the three kings she stood before were meant to complete her. That disappointed him slightly, but he couldn't address is at that moment.

She was safe, and whole. And so were he and his brothers.

He had to find a way to stop this, and sway Caius quickly before his brother witch-hunted them into an eternity without their mate. _Theirs._ As opposed as he'd always been to sharing with others, this felt different. He'd built an entire empire with Caius and Marcus at his side, and shared many other things with them. It didn't seem so odd to him that they would share the same mate.

But his brother was stubborn, and at this moment Caius was the biggest obstacle in his way of preventing this horrible future.

When his eyes reconnected with Alice, he saw a small smile playing on her lips, and she gave him a subtle wink.

He nearly breathed a sigh of relief as she called forth her witness, another half-breed just like the Cullen child.

They had no reason to fight here today, and they had many, many things to think about.

* * *

**Lilith**

* * *

As peace was declared, I watched as the main leader looked over me one last time. His red eyes lingered on mine in a way that made my insides twist, and I let out a shaky breath as he turned and followed his coven out of the clearing.

Everyone was happy, cheering and hugging. But I felt oddly hollow, like I'd just lost something rather important.

I stared at the impressions in the snow that they'd left, the three kings and their guard. I saw some of my rot peaking through the snow, and I quickly began to summon it back to it's place on the trees. I couldn't fully get rid of it on my own, but I could condemn a few trees to let it run its course and die off.

I shook my head, and quickly wrapped myself in a hug from Esme and Carlisle, happy that my friend's and their families were now safe.

* * *

The Cullen home was suddenly very quiet, but it was peaceful.

Of course the wolves were still dropping by every once and while, but it was no longer filled to the brim with vampires. All the other covens and nomads had returned to their homes and travels, leaving the Cullen family with the peace they'd been desiring from the beginning.

I sat at their coffee table, using Edward's laptop to get my bank accounts reopened and get myself some common neccesities. My funds were much lower than

I'd expected, but I also hadn't worked in quite a few years. But it was enough to buy me what I needed and have a little safety net amount left over.

Alice was sitting across from me in the loveseat, pouting at me. Her mate, Jasper, sat next to her with a book in his lap, one thumbing through pages and holding onto the spine gently and the other wrapped around Alice's shoulders.

She'd been doing that for the last five minutes, pouting, and I wasn't going to break.

Her golden eyes went downcast, looking dejected, and I felt my brow twitch as I clicked away on the computer.

I was _almost_ starting to feel guilty.

Edward chuckled from his spot at his piano, where he'd been carefully cleaning and tuning it, but he didn't say anything as he continued to tap away at the keys.

Glaring at him, I wrapped up my quick online shopping and shut the laptop gently.

Alice let out a soft sigh, and my guilt increased tenfold, like I'd swallowed a hot stone that hit the pit of my stomach, hard.

Realization struck me, and I glared at Jasper. I pointed an accusing finger at him and Alice, raising my chin in defiance. "I know what you two are doing, don't think I don't. This fake guilt absolutely will not make me crack. I don't do shopping, and I will not be swayed by either of you."

Jasper didn't look up from his book, but I saw a smirk touch his face and he raised a challenging eyebrow. Alice seemed to be suppressing a giggle, having resorted back to pouting at me now that my eyes weren't glued to laptop screen.

A crushing, near agonizing guilt hit me, and I gasped, about sinking into couch with despair. "This is elderly abuse, I'll have you both know. I feel very victimized right now."

They both chuckled a little, but neither the pouting nor the guilt let up.

I pursed my lips as I felt the guilt welling up inside of me, festering like an open wound. It was so odd to feel a reaction that I was aware wasn't my own, because it felt no different from the real thing. Jasper's projections were impressive, I had to admit. If the reaction hadn't been so strong and forced, he probably would've been able to get away with it without me noticing.

It only took a couple more seconds before the dam finally broke.

"Fiiiinne," I groaned, sinking into the couch with defeat. "Fine, fine, fine, fine."

Alice was on her feet in an instant, a wide grin plastered across her face, and I felt the foreign guilt suddenly disappear from me as though it'd never even existed in the first place. "Fantastic, I know exactly where to go!"

"I have rules!" I stated weakly, hearing a few laughs from the others around us as I let the excited vampire pull me to my feet and towards the door. "I require that I be fed beforehand, and I don't do anything yellow, blue, or pink."

Alice beamed, unphased by my demands. "Deal!"

My head swiveled towards Bella, who'd been sitting on the floor with Renesmee, watching the small girl put together one of Carlisle's insane "milk puzzles" that he seemed to enjoy so much. She'd only started about and hour ago and she already had it close to half-way finished.

"Bella... please...," I begged. "Help."

"No way," she chuckled. "I'm done being Bella-barbie for the next decade."

"We'll see about that," Alice said in a sing-song voice as she allowed me time to slip on my shoes and then rush me out the front door. "Bye, everyone!"

Alice lead me to her porsche, twirling her keys on her pointer finger as she hummed happily, no doubt about her triumphant win.

I let myself into the passenger seat, suddenly a little more self concious as I sank onto the cool and crips leather seat. I'd never lived a very fancy life style. I'd had the money for it at certain points in my life, but I'd never really stayed in one place long enough to consider buying such nice, expensive things.

I also never really gave much thoughts to clothing. When you see so many styles go in and out of fashion, it becomes a little monotonous. Of course, I liked looking good, but it wasn't as though I cared enough about any of it to worry about appearance half the time.

"I'm glad you are coming with me, Lily," Alice said fondly, tuning the radio station while she drove down the winding drive from the Cullen family home. "Sorry, I know the guilt was a dirty trick, but I've been wanting to spend some quality time with you, especially before you go."

Okay, now the guilt I feel is real.

I'd been trying to get to know all the Cullen's best as I could, but also without having to go out and participate in anything social. I was uncomfortable with crowds of humans, as funny as it was considering how calm I was in a crowd of vampires. That, along with the fact that it was impossible for me to hide my strange hair color and eyes.

Part of me had always feared, since I was little, that I could accidentally bring death to humans on accident.

"I... Sorry," I shook my head, running my fingers through my hair, nervously twisting the silver strands between my fingers. "It's just..."

"People stare?" Alice guessed, softly, and I nodded. "They stare at us, too."

There was a rather big difference. Varieties were supposed to be lures, they were attractive because it was a lure to their natural prey. Any human in the vicinity cannot resist taking even just small peaks at vampires around them, because they all find them so stunning.

People stared at me because I nearly look like an albino, though my hair was silver instead of white. I was very strange looking to many. Though, my hair fit in much better now in the current day and age, what with everyone now dying their hair strange colors all the time.

"Did... did Carlisle ever tell and of you how I met him?" I asked her, unsure of why I felt the need to explain myself. Part of me just felt so comfortable with the Cullen's, and Alice was no exception.

She shook her head, glancing at me curiously from between intervals of watching the road.

I suppose I'd made the decision before I'd opened my mouth, because Alice's face went still, eyes seeing things that had not yet come, before they were suddenly watering. "Oh... oh, that's awful. You don't... I saw the conversation. I'm sorry, Lily."

My lips pursed, but then I shook my head. "It's much easier being around people now though. It's just a bit difficult to forget."

Alice rested a hand on my knee, giving a gentle squeeze of comfort. "We'll have fun today, I promise. I've seen it, including you eating a lot of food."

I let out a fully blown belly-laugh. "I'm holding you to that!"

Alice giggled and we fell into a more normal, friendly-like conversation as we made out way to Port Angeles.

* * *

_I lay on the ground, gasping in pain with every small movement my body made._

_No one had discovered me yet, thankfully, but I had no strength. I'd just been able to pull myself out of the ash and other remains, and into the woods a few feet away. I'd hidden myself in some underbrush, but I was frightened._

_I had no clue where to go from here. I couldn't return to my home, they'd burned it down long before they'd burnt my body. And I was weak. Coming back from this kind of damage was something I'd never had to do before. My other deaths had been easier, quicker. This had been slow, and agonizing. I could only assume that the recovery would be the same._

_I was technically still dead. My awareness normally came back before my body was fully alive, so I wouldn't starve or begin to die of thirst until my body had healed enough to start my heart once more._

_The brush above my was suddenly shifting, and a cold fear washed over me as I realized someone had found me,_

_"God..." someone gasped, and I flinched down into the ground. "You... you're alive."_

_I blinked, sight hazy, up at the man standing over me. I was stunned to see that he looked just like an angel, a full head of hair the color of spun gold, and skin smoother and more fair then I'd ever seen on anyone before._

_He was hovering over me, outlined by the harsh rays of the sun. He was staring at me, but not maliciously. His face was more stunned, golden eyes blown wide as he took in the condition of my body. "I... can you speak?"_

_I watched him for a moment, weariness in the pit of my stomach. But I had no choice. I could either trust this man and potentially receive help for my pain, or I could find myself back on the pyre in the hands of those awful villagers. Thankfully, he wasn't someone I recognized from the locals._

_"...help," I whispered, voice coming out broken and thick from the smoke. "Please."_

_His eyes softened, something I nearly wasn't expecting. He then looked over my condition more critically, still seeming to be in disbelief that I was somehow alive, and he carefully reached down for me._

_I gasped in pain as his hands touched my bare flesh, the startling chill to his skin searing against my own._

_"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, and quickly began stripped himself of his overcoat to try and wrap it around my body before he touched me again. "My hands are probably too cold against you at the moment. This will be unpleasant, I'm so sorry. I'll make it as quick as I can."_

_I held in my cries as he finally got me wrapped in his coat, and he lifted me as though he were cradling a newborn baby. Tears stung my cheeks, and I felt a pinch of hope in my stomach. I couldn't tell if I was crying from the pain, or from the gentleness this man held me with as he tried to spare me pain. No one had ever held me when I was in pain, and I'd never had anyone willing to help me before._

_Maybe I wouldn't have to go through this alone for once._

_"My name is Carlisle," the man whispered softly, adjusting me in his arms very carefully._

_"..Lilith... call me.. Lily."_

* * *

Alice had finally given me a moments rest, planting our shopping bags on the ground next to our table in the food court. "I already fed you when we first got here!"

I sipped at my milkshake calmly. "Can't get full, remember? And my part of the deal _was_ food."

She huffed, smirking at me with amusement.

Shopping was not as painful as I thought it would've been. Alice was a wonderful conversationalist, and I was thankful she showed me enough respect to my typical color scheme. She complained a couple times that all of it was so dark, but then went to nosing out pieces in the shades and hues I preferred. Half of it I barely remembered trying on, some of it I didn't even need to before she was adding it to her purchases.

She'd been tossing things into her arms left and right, and I'd basically just stood at the dressing rooms of each store, awaiting the pieces she wanted me to try on in front of her. Some of it was way out of my comfort zone, but she'd actually found quiet a few things I'd enjoy. She even took me to a more comfort store, helping me pick out some casual clothes. I assume she only did so because she knew that at the moment, I literally had nothing what so ever.

"Well, we're almost done," she said softly. "I have one more place to look at and then we can go-"

My eyes darted to her face, and I saw she was in the middle of a vision. I waited, patiently, as she seemed to go still for nearly a full minutes, and watched as her eyes darted back and forth the second she resurfaced.

"Alice-" I started, before I saw a look of irritation cross her face as she stared at something over my shoulder.

A shadow fell over me, and I realized suddenly that there were two people standing behind me.

"You two look a little more out of place than usual," she commented. "Come to join us for a girl's day?"

"Ha-ha," a deep voice replied back, seemingly also amused. "I think you know why we're here."

Finally, I swiveled in my seat so that I could look over my shoulder at our new arrivals. I saw two very familiar-looking figures looming just a foot behind my chair. They were vampires, with the tell-tale red eyes and ridiculous beauty. But that wasn't what stuck out to me, no. What stuck out the most were that the two were wearing matching gold chains, both adorned with a very, very familiar 'v' shaped crest.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"What in the world has gotten into you both?" Caius growled, scathingly swatting away Aro's reaching hand. "Do you two not find it odd that I do not feel the same as you both? You seem to be forgetting that I am wed, and would've very well noticed if I'd looked upon my mate!"

Aro and Marcus shared a withering glance, and it seemed to anger their blonde haired brother even further as he paced to the other side of his study. He shot them a harsh glare, but they both took notice of how his hand drifted to just over his heart, where the mating pull originated.

"Brother, do you think that Marcus' gift could somehow be deceived?" Aro asked level-headedly, trying to give Caius as much patience he could afford to offer.

"His gift has never been wrong before."

"You have not felt love for Athenodora in ages," Marcus commented dryly, drifting towards the window so that he could peak down at the gardens below. "Your ties to her have been breaking strand by strand since the day we left the United States, and it has been discolored for much, much longer."

Caius gaped at him for a second, clearly not used to Marcus speaking, and speaking so forwardly, at that. He quickly recomposed, and turned his harsh gaze upon Marcus, something he rarely did. "Whom I do or do not keep as a bed mate is not a concern for either of you, ties or no ties."

Aro was trying not to roll his eyes, he was trying very hard.

Caius had not gotten a good look at the girl they'd encountered at their confrontation with the Cullen's, and had not seen the seer's vision of what would've happen if they'd continued with their assualt. Nor could he see the ties that Marcus could.

He was also the one least likely to be okay with sharing.

"Caius, she is ours," Aro declared with finality. "You've never sought reason to distrust us so fiercely before. Do you intend to reject our bond?"

Marcus looked away from the window with a quick turn, eyes burning. "He shall do no such thing. If she suffers any pain from your asinine stubbornness-"

"You'll what?" Caius growled. "You'll go into another few centuries long catatonic state?"

A stunned silence slipped into the room, and it felt much colder.

Caius realized too late the weight of his words, but he didn't apologize. Instead he turned away from his brothers, pointedly casting his gaze into the burning fireplace. "Leave me. Now."

Aro was first to go, rubbing his temple in sheer annoyance as he stepped through the doorway. They both could've sworn he'd cursed at Caius under his breath as he went, but Caius no longer had a spark within him to bite something back at him.

Marcus, however, was hovering by the exit. "Caius... if you reject this bond..."

Caius heaved an irritated sigh, not turning to look his brother in the eye.

"It will not only hurt her. It will hurt us all. And neither Aro nor myself will stand by and allow you to single-handedly ruin something so sacred."

Caius whipped around, only to find Marcus had already gone. The tiny, hollow ache in his chest seemed to flare up slightly, and he resisted the urge to wince at the subtle burning in his chest.

"A shared mate..." he spat, though when he tossed another log onto the fire it lacked the force of his anger. "How foolish could fate be, to tie three kings to one weakness?"

* * *

**Lilith**

* * *

"Lilith, this is Felix and Demetri," Alice introduced as I sized up the two vampires hovering over my seated form. "They're part of the Elite guard of the Volturi."

The two looked over me curiously, in the same manner I was regarding them as I took in their appearances without their evil minion cloaks, before looking to Alice. The smaller one, Demetri, spoke to Alice in a slightly aggravated tone of voice. "You removed her from your home."

My brows drew together in confusion, and I glanced over to Alice.

She looked irritated. "Yes, well, Lily isn't a prisoner in our company. In-fact, she plans to be leaving us within a weeks time. Lily, I'm sorry that we didn't tell you, but the Volturi left Demetri and Felix behind to keep an eye on us for a couple of weeks. Sort of like probation, if you will. They're just ensuring all is well, aren't you two?"

They didn't skip a beat, and they were both nodding with her statement. If I'd been less confused and less suspicious, I might've missed the silent conversation between the three. They were looking at each other in ways that told me I was missing a huge part of this conversation, but I knew it was fruitless to attempt to bring out the full truth then and there.

I also couldn't remember telling any of the Cullen's my intentions of leaving so soon, but I could only assume Alice had been able to see my decision. It'd been weighing on me heavily, but the longer I stayed the more I feared that I would be dragging them into my troubles, and that was the last thing I wanted wished upon them.

"Well," I stated, glancing at the two with a raised brow. "If that's the case then you must be forgetting the entirety of the Cullen coven is at home. You both left to follow a single member on her shopping trip not very far from her territory?"

Alice cut in smoothly. "Sorry, boys. It was my fault for leaving without informing you first. I'll make sure to be more careful next time."

I watched as the two nodded slowly, before turning on their heels to leave.

_What the hell is going on?_

Alice avoided any possibility of questions, quickly sweeping our shopping bags off the ground and leading us to the exit of the mall. She'd been planning on taking me out to more stores once I'd finished my food, but it seemed our interruption had been enough to make her ready to return home.

I kept my comments to myself. If there was something wrong, surely Carlisle and his family would tell me so. Maybe the Volturi really were just keeping an eye on them for a while to ensure the validity of their side of the conflict we'd prevented mere days before. Even if they were doing so in a really weird manner.

* * *

I saw neither hide nor hair of the two Volturi guard again for the rest of the week. Though, to specify, it'd also been the last time any of the Cullen's had attempted to take me on any sort of outing away from their homes.

Not that I minded much. I was busy receiving my new clothes and items that I'd purchased at the beginning of the week, and getting this packed and ready to go. Though, as the week went on, the more it bothered me that I hadn't seen or heard anything about the hovering Volturi guard since the mall incident. I didn't like the deep, sinking feeling I was getting in my stomach, and I was quick to throw myself into unpacking and repacking.

Carlisle was kind enough to get a vehicle in order for me, and had went with Esme to go and collect an SUV from a car lot in Port Angeles. I'm sure if I'd let him, he would've paid for it, too, if I hadn't forced him to take my money and thoroughly warned him that if I saw any of it put back in my account I'd turn around from my trip to come harass him.

It all felt like it'd ended too soon.

I'd spent so much time with each of them, and I'd grown pretty fond of the Cullen's I'd missed out on meeting in the past years.

My mind and my heart felt like they were at war. My mind knew I had to go, because it wouldn't be fair to them to be in danger for housing me. But my heart ached for the family setting I'd fallen into pattern with. It'd been something I'd yearned and bled for since birth, and yet again it seemed to be just out of my reach.

I'd tried to load my new vehicle in peace, to also collect my strength and thoughts as I prepared to leave, but of course it didn't take long for Edward, Jasper, and Emmett to come spilling out onto the yard and start loading everything up for me. I didn't even try to get a word in, just raised my brow as Edward shot me a boyish grin as he passed, a duffel bag on each shoulder.

"Show offs," I muttered when it only took them two trips, vampire speed and all.

They chuckled, and I followed them back into the house where the rest of the family had seemed to be waiting.

Before I could even start my farewell, Renesmee peaked at me from her spot at Bella's side. I was surprised to see the soft glimmer of budding tears, and I quickly bent down to grab the girl in a hug. "Oh, little one... Don't cry, we'll see each other again. It may not be soon, but I promise I'll come visit the first chance I get."

I'd grown really fond of the half-human, half-vampire child. I'd spent several afternoons playing games with her and her family, and I'd even gotten the chance to read to her a couple night before she slept.

As I was released from her grip and bound by a pinkie swear that I'd return when I could, I was passed to and from each Cullen in a tight farewell hug. Each one put a bit more pressure behind my eyes, but I told myself I wouldn't cry.

I'd had quite the time. Despite the initial mess, I'd gotten to spend a good amount of time with them, and it'd been so different actually living in a family setting.

It was something I'd always longed for but had always found out of my reach.

I'd found I gotten along well with most of them, though I had to admit I'd hadn't had much time with Rosalie nor Jasper. But both hugged me in farewell, and I dared to notice the slightest of smiles on Rosalie's face as she rejoined her husband at the base of the stairs.

Carlisle was the last, and I hugged onto him much tighter than the others.

While Carlisle was younger than me, he'd been the first person to show me true compassion. He'd reached out to me, and helped me, when I'd needed it the most at one point in my life. He'd not only helped my body heal, he'd become my first real friend I'd been able to trust and rely on in my whole existence.

"You know you don't have to go," Carlisle whispered, pulling away but keeping his hands on my shoulders. "We can help-"

I shook my head at him, and he stopped. They'd worked so hard for their peace, and now in the after-glow of the Volturi incident, it was time for his family to be able to enjoy that peace.

"This... this is something I feel like I need to do alone," I admitted to him, but inside I was scared. I had no clue where to start with my brother and my current dilemma, but I refused to drag Carlisle down with me. Even if it meant I had to do it by myself. "I'll be back before you know it, and you'll all be wishing I was still six feet under again just so you wouldn't have to hear my nonsense."

"Lilith," he chastised, but there was a brotherly grin on his face.

"Good-bye, Carlisle," I said gently, and turned for the door.

I was surprised to see that Alice was there, holding it open for me. She was smiling, albeit a little sadly. "I'd like to see you out, if that's okay, Lily?"

Smiling. I nodded, and followed the small vampire out the front door with a final wave to the rest of the family.

"You better come back soon!" Emmett's booming reply followed us out the door, and I couldn't stop the chuckle that fell from me.

Alice walked me all the way to the driver's side door, and then quickly wrapped me another hug. "Travel safely!"

She then leaned much closer, and I frowned as she whispered into my ear, "Please, Lily, trust them. I can't explain much, because it will change your decisions, but please listen to me. But just remember to try and trust them."

I wasn't able to question her, because as soon as her arms had released me she was back on the porch. She gave me a final wave, then disappeared back into her home.

"...Damn psychics," I muttered, hefting myself up and into the SUV.

My phone buzz, and I chuckled at the text from Alice. _'I heard that!'_

* * *

I'd driven three days straight, stopping only for food and restroom breaks. If I was honest, I didn't have a good idea of where to go. I could only think of heading back up into Canada to my old cabin, to try and find anything that could be helpful to me currently.

Thankfully, Alice had provided me with a passport and license. How, I didn't bother asking. I assume vampires that integrated themselves into human society had to have their resources, and had merely accepted her help gratefully.

I was in the middle of absolutely nowhere, choosing to take small backroads and avoid all the major highways I possibly could until I was closer to my destination. I'd decided I wouldn't cross the Canadian border until I was closer to where my cabin lay, instead of driving up into Canada and through.

It was raining, hard, and I was barely able to make out a thing through my headlights in the dark. Several times I'd contemplated pulling over when I saw signs of townships ahead, but something in my gut had told me I needed to keep going, so I continued driving on.

I'd turned down the radio to get rid of the distraction, because something just felt wrong.

I was barely able to stop myself from wrecking the car when something landed on the side of the car, and suddenly two vampires were sitting in my backseat, having swung open one of the doors and slid inside within seconds. Both were soaking wet, rain dripping from their clothes and hair.

"Jesus christ!" I cursed, and lifted my foot from the pedal. "What the hell-"

"Don't stop," Demetri demanded as shifted my foot to hit the breaks, his voice a rough bark of a command. I paused. "You are being followed. Speed, now."

_Just trust them._

I hit the gas, watching as my meter rose well above the intended speed limit.

My heart was still hammering in my chest from the scare, and I couldn't stop myself from glancing repeatedly at them in the rearview mirror. Both looked guarded, and irritated, as they seemed to be listening for something outside of the car.

"I thought you two were supposed to be with the Cullens, or returning to Italy," I muttered.

Felix glanced at me, before he opened the door and threw himself back out into the rain. It'd been too fast and dark for me to even see if he'd touched down on the road.

Demetri leaned over and closed the open door. "Focus on driving, you're across the middle line."

I jolted with another curse, quickly tilting the wheel so that I was back within my own lane. "Who is following me aside from you two?"

"At first, it was some of those stupid birds," he grumbled, seemingly annoyed. It was then I noticed his cloak had a few crow feathers stuck on it, and he was brushing them off with irritation written across his face. "They attacked us when they seemed to realize we were also following you."

"Yeah, about that," I ground out. "Why are you following me?!"

"Orders," he said simply, igniting my irritation further.

We fell into silence, and I was struggling to keep the vehicle driving straight. The water on the road, combined with my speed, was making it harder and harder to turn the corners safely, and I knew the second we hit too tight of a curve we would be threatening to careen off the road.

I glanced back in the mirror, and my brows furrowed when I realized Demetri was talking. He was talking at a low pitch and faster speed, so lowly I couldn't hear more than a mutter coming from him. He was most likely talking to Felix, who seemed to be traveling outside of the car somewhere within the trees.

"You said at first," I realized, and he went silent. "You said, 'at first, it was some of those stupid birds'. It's not just the crows?"

His brows furrowed. "One of them is different."

"Different how?" I demanded. He stuck silent, and I snapped. "Listen, I know a hell of a lot more about those birds than you do, and you need to tell me what was wrong with one of them or we could be in a shit load of trouble."

His red eyes glittered from the darkness in the backseat, and I could tell he was scrutinizing me. "When they attacked us, one of them turned into a man. He changed back once he realized his physical attacks couldn't harm us."

I sat, stunned. A crow, that had turned into a man? I remembered the crow I'd offered my hair, briefly, but I hadn't thought much of him. He hadn't seemed that powerful when he'd rested upon my arm and snatched up my hair. Could it be that it was him? I'd expected the crows to still be following me, but not hostile and definitely not powerful enough to shape-shift.

"Yeah. ...We're in a shit load of trouble," I heaved a deep breath, running a worried hand through my hair. "Not many crows know how to shape-shift, much less into a human form. Most keep their bird forms for the entirety of their lives."

Demetri didn't seem to be following, but he didn't voice his questions. Instead, he stuck to looking out the windows and keeping an eye out for anything he deemed suspicious.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked him seriously.

He shook his head, calmly. "No. I know your name is Lilith-"

"Lily," I interrupted, but he continued as though I hadn't spoken at all.

"And that our masters ordered that we keep you safe," he finished.

I let that sink in. I bypassed the obvious question of why the Volturi kings wanted me safe, because I didn't feel I'd get any answers out of him that he wasn't already putting out forthwith. Instead, I went straight for the punch.

"Okay, well, hi, as you know I'm_ Lily_," I strained the nickname, seeing him roll his eyes slightly. "I'm immortal, not a vampire as you can see. And I am very, very good at dying. In-fact, it's the thing I do best."

He gave me a look, one that read that he clearly thought I was nuts.

"Looks, I'd stop my heart here and now for you if I wasn't trying to not roll this car," I excused. "It seems to be the only trick that get's through your kind's thick skulls that I'm telling the truth. Ask me to do it some other time when we're not speeding in the rain, and in the dark, while being chased."

He opened his mouth, but hissed out a curse as I suddenly jerked the wheel, realizing the rain had been causing me to steadily drift closer to the side of the road. "Watch the road!"

I glared at him through the mirror, tightening my grip on the wheel. "What is Felix doing?"

"He's making sure they don't get close to the car," Demetri replied, and he sounded a little amused. "But he says that they're gone now."

I was proud of myself for not reacting when Felix hopped onto the vehicle, and swung himself back inside. He was once again very damp, but now he was absolutely covered in crow feathers.

I let off the gas, slowing back down into a safer speed. "They just left?"

He nodded. "They turned around."

"They'll be back," I muttered, and quickly decided to change my rout. I punched a command into the center console, and got the car's GPS set to the nearest hotel.

"You're stopping?" Demetri asked, irritated. "They'll find you even easier if you stop."

I smiled, amused. "No, they'll find me no matter what we decide to do. Crows are everywhere. I assume you're going to keep following me reguardless of what I do or say to convince you not to?"

They nodded, instantly.

"Alright, then. Prepare to play human then."

* * *

"Here's your room key. Sorry, there's only one," the dirty man at the counter said gruffly, his dark eyes sliding between the vampire lurking near the entrance and back to myself.

Something in his gaze made me feel dirty, and I swiped the key up quickly. "Thanks."

Felix had taken off his cloak before shadowing me into the center office of the shitty little motel we'd found, in a small town in the middle of absolutely nowhere. He was being careful about looking at the man, making himself look interested in the downpour outside so that he wouldn't show the red color of his eyes.

Or, well, dark red.

I wondered how close the two were to needing to feed, but couldn't find it in myself to ask as we'd parked and left Demetri behind in the vehicle.

As I turned to leave, the man chuckled gruffly. "You two enjoy your room."

I crinkled my nose in disgust at the suggestive tone in his voice, and Felix shot him a dirty look over his shoulder as he followed my quick exit out the door.

Demetri was standing next to our the door to the room, slipping something into his pocket with a smooth motion.

"I was wondering when you were finally going to get tired," he commented dryly.

I was half tempted to try and slam the door in his face, but the second I'd gotten the door unlocked he'd swept through ahead of me.

Deciding against telling him that I didn't actually need sleep, I played along. I didn't know these two, nor could I fully trust them. Despite what Alice had told me before I'd left. These two, just a week ago, were staring my friend's and family down from the opposite end of what could've been a war zone.

"I was expecting it to be dirtier," Felix said honestly, flicking the lights on.

Demetri scoffed out a reply. "It smells like piss."

It really didn't look as bad as it could've been, especially considering the sleazeball manning the counter, but it honestly did have a terrible odor of mothballs and something very, very similar to cat piss that'd been failed to be cleaned from the carpet.

I tossed down the duffel I'd had slung over my shoulder, ignoring them for the time being.

Why were they here?

I'd been right to be suspicious of them that day at the mall, because it was very clear now that they were actually staying behind for me and Alice had covered that up for them.

There had never been a discussion of my existence, I realized belatedly.

They'd had every reason to want to question me about my existence. I was a living dead girl without a reason for doing so, I wasn't supposed to exist.

Then again, neither were vampires, if I were being fair.

Aro hadn't been able to read my thoughts, either. I was in no way able to mentally shield myself, Edward read my thoughts just as freely as he did anyone else besides Bella. But I knew he hadn't, because when Edward did read my thoughts, I could almost feel him here. Like a visitor, in the back of my head.

In fact, the Volturi should've known about me years ago, from when they first met Carlisle and Edward and gotten into their thoughts. How that'd been skirted around was beyond me, and I was becoming very aware of the dots that were no longer adding up for me.

What would Aro have said to his fellow kings that day, to make them leave me be? To leave the field without so much as questioning what I was? And why would he?

_And I'm sure Thing 1 and Thing 2 over here aren't going to clear anything up for me._

I rubbed at my eyes with heels of my palms, seeing stars beneath my eyelids.

I glared at the two vampires across the room, feeling irritated and stupid. I'd been foolish, laughing and playing games with the Cullen's thinking that the Volturi were behind me. I'd been even more foolish to really believe that I could encounter the vampire mafia and get away scot-free.

"What are those birds?" Demetri finally spoke, looking amused by the hostility I was showing.

"Crows," I told him plainly, watching him narrow his eyes with slight glee.

_How's it feel being out of the loop, Thing 1?!_

Sighing, I sat down on the bed and nearly yelped with how far I sank into the mattress and realized with horror that it was a water bed.

Both vampires watched with amusement as I flailed slightly, trying to get the stupid thing to stop moving.

"Who even uses these anymore?" I cursed, then huffed. "Okay, story time. Crows are omens of death in many cultures, correct?"

They nodded, looking unsure of the direction the conversation was steering in. Demetri was still looking smug as he saw me struggling to sit still on the moving bed, and I wanted nothing more than the strength to smack the look off his face.

"They would be correct," I finally found a decent angle to sit that didn't make me wobble all over the place, and I could finally look them in the eyes. "Crows are agents of Death and the Underworld. They usually hang around areas that will soon find misfortune brought down upon it, when they're not being used for other reasons. They are also used as eyes and ears, and they are completely disloyal to any single being. Normally."

Felix raised a brow. "And... if they're not normal?"

"They have received a bargain they can't refuse," I answer. "My brother seems to have quite a few following his orders, and I'm thinking that the crow that turned into a man before you two is part of it... and I might've pissed him off."

Demetri gave me a hard look. "Pissed off how?"

"I made him an offer he couldn't refuse. And it was a trick," I admitted, but couldn't bring myself to feel too remorseful about tricking the crow. "I knew he was being used by my brother. But when your coven were arriving, I wanted more protection for Edward and Bella's child."

They looked like they were waiting on further explanation, but I wasn't going to go into more details. I still didn't really trust them. So, instead, I crawled haphazardly across the stupid water bed, peeling back the dusty smelling blankets and sheets until I could bury myself beneath them.

I didn't need sleep, but I would need the extra energy once the crows came back.

"You know most people would be nervous about falling asleep with two predators in the room," Demetri pointed out.

I huffed, stuffing my head between two pillows before muttering. "Oh, stuff it. If you eat me I'll be alive again within a day, and then I'll have full permission to kick your ass."

Drifting off slowly, I heard what sounded like a couple chuckles, and then the open and click of the door closing.

* * *

Somewhere, within the darkness of the room, four voices came together as they watched over the slumbering figure in the bed. The room felt devoid of warmth, devoid of light. It was though the darkness were growing, and even the dull light streaming through the blind from the parking lot seemed to be getting sucked into the blackness.

The shadows morphed and twisted, taking the form of a single man and then of four.

_She has brushed fate with her heart._

**_"Interesting."_**

"They're not good enough. They left her to Orick with two of their guard. What men travel halfway around the Earth when their soul mate is in danger?!"

**"Hush, it's not as though they actually know the extent of her danger. Let our lily-flower learn her own path."**

_"And Orick?"_

"The boy is a child. He knows nothing of battle."

_**"He is growing stronger."**_

**"Let him. He is not of us, and even less of her. He will fail."**

_"So you say..."_


End file.
